


Stained Lips, Stained Fingertips

by Sugar_and_Salt



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fantasy, M/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Witches, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-11-01 14:17:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 52,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20816543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sugar_and_Salt/pseuds/Sugar_and_Salt
Summary: The first time Luhan sees Minseok, he is about to be executed.





	1. Sidewalk Confetti

**Author's Note:**

> prompt #9
> 
> this was a real journey.  
thanks a lot to the prompter for this incredible prompt that was the best I've seen in years  
thanks to my beta for seeing this through and being so quick and helpful at that!  
thanks to my friend S for reading and encouraging me so much.  
and lastly, thanks to the mods for being so lenient and not pushy even when I would have deserved it
> 
> have fun reading <3
> 
> p.s.: i was thinking of howl's moving castle while writing this but if you've never seen that movie, that's fine! though you should give it a try one day because it's fantastic <3

The sky was a generous, vivid blue, only barely paling at the horizon, and the streets were filled with people milling around despite most of the shops closing up. Luhan had just closed the store and become part of the anonymous mass bustling along the streets like an ant colony. Just one more tiny ant pushing itself past others, trying to keep the strap of his bag from cutting into his shoulder. The scent of fried food and spices permeated the air, lingering thick and heavy over the fleeting clouds of perfume flying by. Luhan kept his gaze lowered, if only to avoid tripping over the rough cobblestones. He could spot colorful pieces of confetti gathering in between the stones - a few, lone leftovers from the summer festival flying past as Luhan seized every opportunity to slink past people.

He didn't have any place to be at or any friends to meet but he was hungry. The day had been long and he'd forgotten to bring his lunch, which was now wistfully waiting for him on his counter. He slipped into a deserted alley, sighing in relief over his newfound freedom. There was more stray confetti as well as posters plastered over eternally shut windows, announcing events that lay far in the past, inviting people to visit a market, or to join the police force. As he walked past, one of the posters caught his attention. It wasn't very large, about the size of a sheet folded in half, and it lay on top of everything else, looking rather new. It showed the drawing of an eye, all thick violet paint, with teardrops and rhombi placed like eyelashes. There was no writing on it, but witches probably didn't need writing to communicate. Or maybe the sign was purely marking someone's territory. Luhan didn't pay too much attention to it and simply moved on, ignoring the vaguely uncomfortable feeling stirring in his stomach - seeing symbols made by witches was a sign of an unsafe street, and the piece of paper might look harmless, but there was no telling whether it was simply a drawing or a spell glued to the wall. Every kid knew better than to touch a strange symbol, and Luhan knew that even looking at one for too long might get him into trouble.

It might be nothing but a misguided superstition, but superstitions were all they had when it came to witches.

Stepping back onto the main road felt like resurfacing from a dark pond, with light and sound washing over him again in full force, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw splashes of emerald. Luhan was nothing but a righteous citizen, so the presence of police officers made him feel safe.

He decided to cross the square instead of worming his way around it - he really did want to go home, with exhaustion clinging to his skin, chafing away at it, making him feel sensitive and sore. Maybe he was coming down with a cold. Luhan was quite frankly sick of even smelling tea at this point, but maybe he could make himself a simple soup later.

The square was more crowded than usual, with people gathering around the platform at the heart of it. Luhan assumed it was some sort of performance they were waiting for, or maybe a public announcement, and while he sure was nosy enough, he really wanted to get home as soon as possible - the amount of people around him seemed to add to his wary feeling, hiking up the friction against his skin.

A loud fanfare cut through the steady buzz, and Luhan flinched.

The platform wasn't too far away from him, and when he turned to catch a look at it, he saw two policemen positioning themselves, taking out a board to read from. Behind them, two more officers led a person up to the platform, and it immediately dawned on Luhan. He'd run into a public execution.

He didn't have to listen to the officers announcing it - a mere look at the man flanked between them was enough. Even from afar, Luhan could tell that he was young and gorgeous, with inky black hair and outstandingly intricate, expensive-looking clothing that made him look like a fancy nobleman.

At the sight of the witch, people actually inched back ever so subtly, while Luhan did the opposite. He wasn't planning on staying for the execution, but he'd never seen an actual witch with his own two eyes. It was a kind of morbid curiosity that made him step closer, close enough to see the unsightly patches of black marring the man’s otherwise flawless face. They looked like ink bleeding into white skin, blobs of darkness spread around the lower half of his face, running down his throat to disappear beneath his collar. There were violet and green rhombi, too, something Luhan couldn't make out from afar, but all in one, he looked like he was infected with a deadly disease. He could see why people had taken a step back now.

Despite his skin condition and his approaching execution, the witch stood up straight, and while his eyes rested on the ground, there was nothing submissive about it. He seemed relaxed, almost haughty, and when he was led to the front to kneel, he obliged without even a hint of struggle. Luhan could only barely see his eyes from where he stood, and when those eyes roamed the sea of people, he was certain they locked gazes for a split second. The officer's speech sounded distant and muffled, and when someone shifted in front of him, Luhan saw the witch silently smiling to himself. It sent a chill down his spine, and served to finally jolt him out of his trance.

He wasn't supposed to be here. Witches were dangerous and that aside, he wasn't one to watch executions. He shouldn't be here.

Luhan pushed himself back through the crowd until it thinned out. The buzz around him grew louder, and the guards raised their voices to drown them out. He heard the crowd hold their breath in anticipation and then a shrill sound pierced the air, a metallic screeching sound that was entirely unnatural. Before he knew it, Luhan had whipped around towards the platform, just as a strange wave of dark colors washed over the crowd and past him, spreading like thick, lazy light, black dots flying everywhere like bugs made of shadows. There were screams, but they were way too quiet, and the crowd moved too slowly, as if time stood still for all of them, gliding around them in unnatural patterns. Luhan was thinking but he wasn't _ thinking_, feeling like his entire existence had been dipped underwater where it struggled for a hold in a sea of nothing. There was a hunched figure on the platform in one moment, and then it was gone the next. Patterns started to dance in the air, moving, winding rhombi, and _ oh_, there were hands around his throat.

The witch was right there, in front of him, cutting off his airflow with a vice-like grip. Luhan's hands were weak as he scratched at the fingers around his neck, pathetic sounds escaping him. All he could see were the witch’s eyes, wild and cat-like, gleaming with yellow specks as his vision blurred out-

-and then the moment passed like it was violently sucked out of his grasp. The clean air and paling light returned, sounds crashing down on him, and the grip on his throat loosened, allowing air to fill his lungs. The witch blinked, the specks of yellow gone. There was a subtle change in his expression as his gaze dropped down to where his fingers had been squeezing just seconds ago, one that Luhan couldn't interpret quickly enough. A nick of dissatisfaction took over, and then the witch grabbed his hand and roughly pulled him along.

"Come," he said, voice surprisingly soft, and yet very clearly audible over the panic breaking out in the square.

Luhan struggled right away, despite the dizziness threatening to make him throw up.

"No-"

"Come with me if you want to live," the witch added sharply, leaving no room for arguments, and when the screams let on that the witch had been sighted, he tugged more fiercely, making Luhan follow after him against his will. It felt like his legs were moving on their own, and then he had to keep running to keep up the momentum - there was simply no way to describe it, but as everything flew by in a grey blur, he couldn't find it in himself to struggle. His entire mental capacity was focused on panicking. Where was the witch taking him? Why was the witch taking him anywhere? Why had he tried to kill him?

His throat was still hurting, burning so intensely that it was impossible to tell whether the pain came from inside or out.

They ran down shadowy alleyways, and Luhan could have sworn he'd seen glowing signs whiz by. Their few pursuers had thinned out surprisingly fast - another result of the witch using magic?

He was tugged around another corner and then all but shoved inside a house. The witch slammed the door closed, leaning back against it, pulling Luhan closer without sparing him a glance. Obediently, Luhan pressed himself to the door as well, too confused and scared to cause a scene. It was dark inside the room, with the only light being the one filtering in through the two small windows facing the street. One of them was open, and the witch stared at it, breathing deeply whereas Luhan was swallowing dryly.

When he made a move to close the window, to avoid being spotted, he felt a warning palm on his forearm, and without tearing his gaze from the window, the witch placed a finger to his lips.

Luhan tried to control his breathing, hyper aware of the small, but strong hand on his arm. Even in the semi-darkness, the golden accents and gemstones on the other's robe were glinting.

Even now he could see the black patches tainting the witch's face, painting the left corner of his mouth, which was tugged into the slightest smile.

For a few long seconds, it was silent. Just when Luhan's breathing had normalized, the witch relaxed, closing the window with nothing but a flick of his fingers.

"So much for that," he hummed to himself, walking past Luhan and towards a flight of wooden stairs. There was a very distinct scent clinging to him, a kind of perfume Luhan hadn't come across before, and it was both addictive and dizzying, so he was glad for the room to breathe.

The witch paused and turned his head to shoot him an expectant look.

"Where are we going?" Luhan asked quietly, warily, and instead of growing impatient or angry, the witch only seemed mildly amused.

"To take a look at your throat."

Unconsciously, Luhan's hands flew up to his throat, feeling nothing but smooth skin. The burning sensation from earlier was still there though, and trying to run from the witch wouldn't be smart. Luhan was genuinely terrified, fear swirling in his stomach as he slowly followed the witch up the stairs. Was he going to die today? Had the witch chosen him for some bloody ritual? He hadn't done anything wrong, had never offended a witch before. He was just a tiny fish in the sea, a small snippet of confetti, not remarkable in any way-

The witch entered the room at the end of the stairs, stepping inside a big, lofty room right beneath the roof. It was doused in pale light, and despite the countless objects scattered around, everything seemed very orderly and in place. Still, Luhan immediately knew that something was wrong - the room was way too spacious to be inside this cramped little house, and there was no way they were on the top floor already. Carefully, he walked towards one of the windows in the ceiling, trying to spot any adjacent building helping him gain some orientation, but he only saw the rose-tinted sky through what seemed to be shapes cut into the roof with no rhyme or reason. There wasn't even any glass shielding the room from rain-

"Sit."

The almost soft command had Luhan turn his head towards the two wooden chairs the witch had gestured at. Luhan obeyed, unconsciously folding his hands in his lap, keeping his posture straight. If he was going to die, he might as well try to keep his dignity and not add to the witch's amusement.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched the witch place his coat on a hanger, stretching his shoulders and massaging his neck. The unguarded moment vanished as fast as it had come, and when the witch sank into the chair opposite Luhan, he did so with an untouchable kind of grace. It was hard not to look at the left corner of his lips where the black bled into soft rosé.

He gestured Luhan to come closer, which he did, still pretending that it didn't take all his willpower not to shake.

The witch cupped his skin, his fingers warm to the touch where they had been icy earlier. Luhan held his breath. He felt the other's thumb press into his skin, and for a moment, he looked like a mildly irritated mother trying to rub a stain off their son's cheek. It prickled, but otherwise, Luhan didn't feel a thing.

The witch hummed, and withdrew his hand.

"Guess you'll have to wait it out," he stated.

"Wait what out?" Luhan asked carefully, looking around for a shiny surface to mirror himself in.

The witch pointed out a full length mirror at one of the walls, and Luhan could see it from afar already, his heart skipping a beat.

There was something dark around his throat. Something pitch black. It looked like ink sitting right beneath his skin, winding themselves around his throat where the other had tried to strangle him earlier. They were noticeable under his fingertips though, like the faintest weal.

From up close, it was obvious that they were of the same nature as the rash covering the witch's skin.

"What is this?" Luhan breathed out, rubbing his fingers on his clothing, caught by involuntary disgust.

"A demon's mark," came the swift reply.

In the mirror, he could see sharp eyes resting on him with mild interest. He was probably enjoying Luhan’s panic.

"Is it going to kill me?" he asked carefully, watching the other through the mirror, watching him lightly shake his head.

"Not if the demon dies before it gets a hand on you," the witch said almost casually as he got to his feet, moving towards an adjacent room.

"How do I know it's dead?" Luhan asked hastily, taking a few hesitant steps towards the door. For some reason, he had this unreasonable fear that the witch would simply disappear, leaving him behind, despite this looking like his home.

"The mark will be gone," came the soft reply, so simple in nature that Luhan had to refrain himself from growing impatient.

"But how am I supposed to hide from a demon? Didn't it get to you earlier? What am I supposed to do now?"

The witch re-entered the room, looking quite unimpressed for the first time.

"It didn't _ get to me_," he remarked sharply, and when Luhan refused to break eye contact, the witch seemed to change approaches, and the small, dangerous smile was back again as he trailed the tips of his fingers over the rash on his face.

"I ate it. Both of them."

Luhan must have looked every bit as horrified as he felt, for the other's grin widened just a little.

"All you have to do is wait," he said, already turning away and towards the kitchen aisle in one corner. "They'll disintegrate soon."

Luhan was itching to ask more questions, but the statement had put the other in an even more terrifying light. He'd eaten a demon? Two of them?

"You shouldn't go home for now," the witch said casually, preparing a cup of tea. "You can stay in the guest room."

"I don't- I mean, no need-"

"Help yourself to food, but don't touch anything else, please. And don't leave without permission."

He said it so incredibly casually that Luhan couldn't help getting mad.

"Excuse me? You can't just decide that, I'm not your pet."

The witch shot him an unfazed look over his shoulder.

"I know - I'd feed my pet. I assume you'll get by on your own."

Luhan gaped at him in angry disbelief.

"I have a life, you know? And a job - I can't just sit around here all day like some newly acquired house plant."

"What's a few days of not going to work?" the witch shrugged, and Luhan crossed his arms.

"Most likely me being fired, that's what it is."  
He was being stubborn and dramatic, but there was no way he'd not let himself be locked away without a fight. The witch quietly sighed, but Luhan didn’t back down.

"I'll go to work tomorrow, period."

He watched the other pinch his forehead, finally giving in.

"Fine," he sighed. "But return here afterwards. I'm not going to come running when the mark decides to eat you up, after all."

That effectively shut Luhan up, causing a shudder to run down his spine. He refrained from voicing out how it was the witch’s fault that this had happened in the first place. For some reason, he was willing to help him with this curse, so Luhan didn't want to push his luck. Witches were known for a lot of things, but not for being generous, so when he lay on a mattress in the guest room a while later, he wondered what kind of a price the witch would ask for in turn for his help.

Maybe he'd end up becoming his servant for life after all.  


It took a long time for him to fall asleep, plagued by worries and hunger - since he hadn't dared to actually prepare himself something to eat - and his throat was still prickling. It was pure exhaustion that pulled him to sleep eventually.


	2. Yellow Rosehip

"What's with that shawl, by the way? Did you catch a cold?"

Luhan's hand flew up to the flowy piece of fabric he'd clumsily knotted around his neck.

"Just a bit of a scratchy throat, nothing to worry about," he said evasively. Yixing shot him a mildly dubious look, but let him be, and Luhan fled to the front of the store.

Yixing was the most benign person he had ever met, and Luhan had never done anything to break the trust between them. He probably thought that he was hiding love bites. Luhan wished that would be true - not only because love bites would suggest having a lover of any kind, but also because they'd feel less itchy. The marks hadn't changed over night, and no amount of makeup could even begin to cover them, so Luhan had hastily thrown on the only shawl he owned.

He leisurely cleaned up the counter, returning the brown glass bottles into their designated places.

The witch hadn't been around when he woke up, so Luhan had left like a forgotten bedmate, sneaking out and walking to his own home around dawn. As predicted, the streets waiting outside the witch's house were entirely different from the one they had ran down the day prior, so it took Luhan a good while to reorientate himself. He dimly wondered whether the entrance to the witch’s home wandered all the time and whether he’d even find it again on his own.

Now that he was surrounded by familiar, bottled plants, the distinct scent of dried chamomile clinging to everything, the previous day seemed like a horrible nightmare that paled in the daylight.

Early into the day, a little girl came to get the requested tea for her sick mother, and then an old lady showed up, asking for a tea soothing her rattling lungs. Luhan swiftly prepared everything, mixed dried roots and leaves, sprinkled flower petals and wrote labels, moving almost mechanically. Everything just seemed to move around him as he was distracted by his own thoughts.

He had associated with a witch. Technically, it was his duty to report him to the authorities. Even if the execution had been staged - which was a ridiculous thought - it was very obvious that this particular witch didn't work for the government. Luhan had only heard of the witches loyal to the government - people described them as eerily blank-faced, quiet people who appeared almost soulless. Yesterday's witch hadn't been very talkative, but he'd been oozing with character, a sharp smile dancing on his face as he toyed with the world around him.

He'd also saved him. After attacking him.

Luhan paused, absently staring at the bottle of dried primrose roots in his hand.

Had he really saved him? Could Luhan be sure of that? No, not yet.

He didn't have enough information to rat him out to the authorities, either, so it was alright if he didn't report him right away. That's what he told himself, at least.

What a coward he was.

Around his neck, the markings prickled almost tauntingly.

"Luhan? How much centaury do we still have?"

Grateful for the interruption, Luhan opened a cupboard to check.

"Lots. Why, what do you need it for?" he called out, way too loud as it turned out, with Yixing already standing next to him.

"A family of five have all got nasty stomach infections. Could you prepare some tea for them? The father's allergic to dandelion, but otherwise, you can get creative."

"Alright," Luhan hummed, already reaching for a variety of herbs typically used to calm the stomach. "When do we need it?"

"They'll come get it tomorrow morning. Thanks."

The bells announced a customer, and Luhan froze upon seeing the familiar face of the witch. He looked slightly different than the day before, his hair curly and messy, and his eyes only partly rimmed black. Without the black markings on his face, he looked like a fancy nobleman. 

They could proudly say that they had customers of all status and background, but people with clothing as fancy as him usually sent their servants to pick up the tea they mixed.

"Good afternoon, sir," Yixing greeted him politely, but Luhan could tell that he was confused, maybe even wary. It was understandable - everything about the witch was too pretty, too expensive, and too dangerous. Like a fox strolling into a henhouse.

"There you are," the witch said smoothly, smiling as if Luhan was an old friend of his. It was so well-executed that Luhan was tempted to let himself be fooled, to believe the warmth in the witch’s voice.

"I was wondering where you were. Must have slipped my mind that you're working today," he added as he leaned against the counter and glanced over the assortment of bottles and tools. "Did you prepare the tea I was asking for?"

Luhan blinked.

"The tea?" he asked, trying not to sound as helpless as he felt. The witch was wearing a long, dangly earring with a pretty, green gemstone that blinked in the light.

"Ah, you forgot after all. The tea to help with my scratchy throat, remember?"

The voice of the witch was soft and melodic, velvety almost, which entirely contradicted with his demand, but Luhan nodded, anyway.

"Sorry. I'll prepare it right away."

"You know each other?" Yixing asked, still polite, and still cautious.

"We're friends," he heard the witch reply as he methodically weighed a few leaves and roots.

"Oh. I didn't know that," Yixing commented noncommittally.

"We only met recently," the witch stated with natural ease, and Luhan felt nervous heat rise up his face.  
“In the library,” he mumbled quickly, keeping his eyes on the tea, but the damage was already done.

"I came here to get him. You're not needed much longer, are you?"

It took Luhan a moment to realize that the question was aimed at him. When he did, he looked up at Yixing with a small, apologetic grimace. Technically, the store was still open for two more hours, and Yixing never knew when he was needed elsewhere...

"Don't forget about the custom orders we have," Yixing said gently, shooting him an imploring look. Luhan had known him for many years now and easily realized that he was giving him a choice.

"I can come in a little earlier tomorrow," Luhan offered, swiftly bagging the simple mixture of herbs under Yixing's attentive eyes.

"...Alright then," he relented, lightly placing his palm on Luhan's upper back. "You can leave for today. I trust you, Luhan. See you tomorrow."

Luhan smiled, feeling much better knowing that Yixing had his back at all times and was ready to protect him, even when a witch literally walked into their store to take him away. Not that he knew the person before them was meant to be executed a day prior.

Yixing went into the backroom, but not without throwing a last look and polite nod towards the witch, who responded in the same manner. The small smile made it seem like he was mocking Yixing.

"So, how much?" he then asked Luhan, who only barely kept an unintelligent response to himself.

"For what?" he asked instead.

"The tea," the witch simply hummed, and Luhan looked at the bag before him, waving him off.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," he mumbled as he swiftly cleaned his workspace. The characteristic clicking of money meeting the counter made him look up to see three aventurine coins.

"Is that enough?" the witch asked, still keeping up the noble facade, and Luhan relented.

"It is. Let me get the change-"

"Keep it. You won't be taking much longer, will you?"

So that was it - the witch was impatient.

"I'll be right there," Luhan sighed, shifting everything aside and grabbing his bag from the back room, not without sharing a last, reassuring look with Yixing.

The witch was already standing by the door, holding it open for him. Luhan wouldn't usually allow anyone but Yixing to hold doors for him but he didn't dare challenge the witch's pride. He was apparently annoyed already, for whatever reason, and it showed in the swift way he walked ahead, checking his pocket watch.

"Where are we going?" Luhan asked, silently glad that he had longer legs than the other, and could at least keep up with him in a dignified way. Like this, in broad daylight, it was obvious that the witch was at least half a head shorter than him, but Luhan had always known that physical broadness and height were insignificant factors when it came to someone’s presence. The witch had a pretty strong presence, radiating, really. Currently, he radiated annoyance. 

"Places," he replied curtly, and Luhan resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

For a dozen steps, it was silent.

"Why did you just leave this morning?"

Luhan blinked in confusion, keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

"Cause I had to go to work? I told you I got a job-"

"And how did you plan on finding the way back?" the witch interrupted him with a sharp glance. Luhan felt his cheeks heat up against his will.

"I remembered the street and house number."

"And you knew that would do it how exactly?"

He was right, of course, and Luhan had considered the apartment to move places again, but-

"Well, you weren't around this morning, and I didn't want to be late. How was I supposed to know when you'd get back, do I look like some sort of mind reader to you?" he asked back, a little too ticked off to stay fearful. The witch looked mildly taken aback, but then dropped the conversation with a small sigh. Luhan didn't feel like he was in the wrong - it had been awkward enough, waking up in a stranger's house and trying to find out whether the witch was home or not without potentially embarrassing himself.

They stopped in front of a store Luhan had never been to.

"Follow me, and don't speak unless I ask you to," the witch demanded curtly, but less aggressive than earlier. Before Luhan had even a chance to get nervous, they had entered what turned out to be the workshop of a blacksmith. Humid, greasy air hit him as soon as he crossed the threshold, making it hard to breathe, and the little forge was so cramped that it was hard to focus on anything for long enough to identify it.

A metallic clanking sound came to a halt, and then someone entered the store from the backyard. Someone tall and lanky, with a dirty pair of pants and a well-sculpted, greasy upper body suggesting that it was the resident smith who was shooting them such a blinding smile.

"Minseok, there you are," he boomed, leaning on the counter facing them. He looked youthful, with wide, shiny eyes, fiery red hair and an almost smug grin that had Luhan intuitively dropping his gaze to the counter. But the other had apparently not caught him staring at his exposed, sweaty body.

"Pretty, pretty," he commented, staring at the witch’s (Minseok's?) face. The ugly markings and rhombi had reappeared, looking as dark as they had the day before.

"Shut your mouth," Minseok snapped, and while it lacked murderous intent, there was definitely a venomous edge to it.

"Touchy, aren't we?" the smith hummed, completely unfazed, and only now did his eyes wander over to Luhan. "What, you’re resorting to escorts now? Didn't think you'd find Jongdae _ that _unappealing-"

"I am not an escort," Luhan cut him off unhappily, only to receive a withering glare by the witch. To demonstrate how little that fazed him, he held the smith’s gaze and stood his ground. He had no idea who this Jongdae was, but there were only a couple things that really managed to get to Luhan, and commenting on his dainty looks was the sure way to go.

"Is that so?" the smith asked, almost purred, and now Luhan regretted speaking up in the first place, because suddenly, the wide-eyed guy leaning into his vision didn't look all that harmless anymore.

"Then what reason could Minseok possibly have to bring you along? Last time I checked, he wasn't taking apprentices..."

Luhan stared at him defiantly, but he kept his mouth shut like the witch had initially told him to.

"Last time _ I _ checked, my private life was none of your fucking business," Minseok replied in his stead. He managed to sound both angry and frigid at the same time, and it drove a pout to the smith's face, the strangely tense atmosphere broken within the blink of an eye.

"Fine, stay boring. It's not like it'll stay a secret forever," he said dismissively, leaning away and picking something off the shelf that he threw towards Minseok in an easy, predictable way. The other caught what turned out to be a dagger. Pulling it out of his sheath revealed a set of blue runes running down the blade, and now it was undeniable - the smith was a witch, too.

Luhan had somewhat known it right away, because something about the shop had felt strange to him, but the mere idea of a blacksmith being a witch just seemed so absurd that it was hard to believe.

"Happy?" the smith asked. It was obviously a rhetorical question. Minseok turned the dagger in his hands some more, scrutinizing it in a way that made Luhan wonder whether he truly knew what he was looking at and whether he was doing it on purpose, dragging out his approval like that.

Eventually, the dagger was sheathed though, and disappeared into one of Minseok's pockets.

"Looks good. How do you want to be paid?"

The smith shrugged.

"I'll let you know."

It seemed like the conversation had ended there, with Minseok nodding lightly, and turning away to leave the store. Luhan stumbled after him, belatedly turning to nod the smith goodbye as well. In the doorway, Minseok stopped.

"See you, Chanyeol," he announced, surprisingly earnest, for all the earlier bickering.

"Yeah, yeah, see you around," came the easy reply, and they stepped back into the crisp evening air, leaving the forge behind.

  


* * *

The moonlight was shining on Luhan's face as he stared at the wooden ceiling. Sleep refused to come, no matter how hard he tried to cajole his mind into giving up and resting. The winding mass of questions inside his head stayed active, refusing to calm down, or even better yet, fade from his mind for good.

He hadn't asked any of them out loud. It seemed futile. If the witch, no, _ Minseok_, didn't speak up on his own volition, well, Luhan wouldn’t beg him for answers.

Heck, they hadn't even properly introduced themselves to each other. Just thinking about the fact that Minseok had somehow gotten him into this situation and was so nonchalant about it made Luhan mildly angry.

In his head, he went over the catalogue of questions he had, trying to determine which one had priority and would be worth trying to get an answer to.

What exactly had happened back at the square, and why had the demon latched on to him? What if Minseok lost control like that again? The markings were still pretty poignant, even though he was apparently able to hide them in public. He hadn’t been able to hide them inside the forge of the fellow witch though, which led to other questions. How many witches were in the capital? They'd been made out to be a general, looming threat, but if they could meet one of them so comfortably, it raised the question just how many of them were around, and whether they all hid behind inconspicuous daily lives. If so, what was Minseok's official occupation? His apartment was full of ancient-looking books, tools like knives and pots, and a waist-high cupboard made of drawers hid other peculiar objects but none of them hinted towards any kind of profession. Sure, he was a witch, but what did he _ do _? What did witches do, really?

And when the black markings on Luhan's throat eventually faded, what would happen to him? Now that he knew this much already, would they somehow make him forget?

With a groan, Luhan sat up, ruffling through his already messy hair.

He needed a glass of water. He needed a distraction, and his throat felt like sandpaper anyway.

Carefully, he peeked inside what he could only call a living room for lack of a better word. At the kitchen aisle, with his back to him, stood Minseok, chopping something, illuminated by nothing but the moonlight filtering in from above. The quiet, regular sounds of the knife meeting wood halted, and Luhan knew right away that he'd been caught.

"Sorry," Luhan muttered, barely above a whisper. "I just wanted to get some water."

Minseok looked at him over his shoulder, and making out his expression in the semi-darkness was impossible, but he subtly slid away from the tap, making room for him.

Relieved, Luhan walked over to him, bare feet soundless on the wooden floor. He took a cup of the shelf and filled it with water from a surprisingly luxurious-looking, clean sink, all the while peering over at what Minseok was doing.

He didn't know what he'd expected - insects or something bloody, maybe, but not a heap of ordinary-looking fruits. They were small and yellow, nothing he'd ever seen before, but they didn't look magical or dangerous in any way.

As he sipped his water, he watched Minseok carefully half them and place them aside. The other didn't seem to mind. When a handful of halved fruits began to pile up on the side of his wooden board, the knife was placed aside in favour of a teaspoon with a softly pointed tip. To unsuspecting people, the form would have reminded them of a tool to clean nails with, but Luhan knew right away what this was for.

He watched Minseok use the spoon’s handle to scrape out the inside of the tiny fruits. Maybe the silence had been a bit too comfortable, for he spoke up before he could really think it through.

"Would you like me to help? I can do this."

The look Minseok shot him was one of mild wariness, as if he expected Luhan to suddenly attack or sabotage him. Apparently, he found no such intent in his expression, and with the tiniest shrug, he offered him the spoon.

"Be careful, they break easily," was all he said, and Luhan hummed.

He ended up breaking a few shells, anyway, the insides clinging too hard to the outside to separate them without having it crumble. It was enough to give him a feeling for these foreign fruits though, and soon enough, he fell into a comfortable routine. It wasn't much different from preparing rose hip, and the moon light was bright enough to ease the process.

It went on like this for a while, with Luhan cleaning the fruits while Minseok cut them, eventually joining him. The comfortable routine eventually coaxed the exhaustion to the surface, and when the last clean shell landed in the bowl, Luhan's eyes were itching. It felt like he'd been standing there for at least an hour.

"I'll go to sleep first," he mumbled, placing the tool down. Just as he was about to rub his eyes, Minseok caught his wrist. It sent a weak spark of confused excitement down his spine, but the other had let go already.

"Wash your hands first," he said quietly.

Right. Of course. The fruits might be poisonous, or at the very least nothing to rub into his eyes.  


He was already halfway back to his temporary bedroom when he heard the other call after him, almost too soft to be heard.

“Luhan, is it?”

He paused with a hand on the door frame, taking a second too long to reply. By the time he did, the other was looking at him already, and he really wished he could decipher his expression.

“Yeah?” he asked rather than stated, and Minseok gave him a curt nod.

“Sleep well.”

It was simple and almost casual but Luhan’s sleepy heart twinged, anyway.   


"Thanks. Good night," he murmured, and as he got comfortable in the soft blankets, cheek mashed against the cool cushion, he faintly wondered when someone had last bid him a good night.

  
  



	3. Rumored Madness

Luhan wasn't an early bird. Waking up early made him feel sick, and no matter the time he went to bed, he'd never wake up before the sun did. At least not on his own volition. Which explained why the first thing that wandered into his travel bag was always his trusty little alarm clock that he managed to deactivate within a split second of it going off. Luhan was convinced that this, too, was a proof of how much he hated getting up early, that being startled awake simply annoyed him into shutting up the annoying bells as quickly as he did. Though on this morning, he also hurried so as not to bother Minseok.

With a sigh, he placed the clock face down and stared at the ceiling. The first sun rays of the day were filtering in through the window, and Luhan blinked blearily.

He felt like shit. Definitely worse than usual. Not surprising, considering how little he had probably slept. In hindsight, staying up late into the night to clean some magical rosehip fruits with a witch didn't seem all that smart anymore.

Minseok had called this room a guest room when it was clearly just a small storage room with a mattress in one corner. Still, Luhan was feeling infinitely comfortable right now, the blanket and cushion thick and plush, generously filled with feathers and trying to coax him back to sleep. In response, Luhan threw the blanket back just a bit and lazily turned his head to the side and off the cushion. He stayed in this twisted position, staring at the ceiling, and then out the window. He'd pushed the mattress beneath it so he could see the stars at night, adding a bit of familiar comfort to an unknown place. Now that it was his second day waking up to the faintest scent of wood and something he'd guess to be tea-tree oil, he found that the novelty had worn off a little. At least he didn't feel terrified and insecure anymore. This was due, in part, to the fact that Minseok really didn't seem to harbour any ill intentions towards him, but Luhan had always been quick and easy to adapt to his environment. With a small huff, he sat up, staring absently at the black blotches marring his neck in the reflection off the glass cabinet across him. 

Who knew that even after so many years of stability, he was still very much capable of just grabbing his alarm clock and a set of clothes, and start to live somewhere else with no sign of homesickness whatsoever. It should probably be sad that he wasn’t attached to his home in the slightest but apparently, old habits died hard.

Sure, all of this was simply temporary, but it didn't feel alienating or awkward, so Luhan didn’t see anything bad about it. Luhan knew no so such thing as home sickness. He'd never lived with someone else though, so the fact that some other person was around him in the mornings or evenings was different, and it made him slightly nervous, simply because he wasn't used to it. It didn't seem to matter the previous day, when Minseok had been long gone when he woke up, but it clearly mattered now. When Luhan trudged out of the guest room, his clothes haphazardly thrown on, he locked gazes with Minseok, who was sitting by the table, spreading fruit jam on fresh bread rolls. He knew immediately that they were fresh because they smelled heavenly.

Unsure of what the correct social etiquette entailed, Luhan just stood there like an idiot.

"Morning," he hummed, somehow feeling that he had embarrassed himself within these two syllables already.

Minseok shot him a quick nod, looking wide awake, like the nightly potion-making session hadn't affected him in the slightest. He was wearing a simple, but perfectly ironed white dress shirt over black pants, which was a change from his usual attire, but only served to make him look even more expensive and put together - or maybe that was just Luhan having inappropriate thoughts about him. It was easy to look fancy with so much jewelry, he told himself on the way to the bathroom to wash up, but choosing to wear something as simple as a dress shirt was a sign of actual sophistication and modesty. This style of clothing was usually worn by scholars or other people who stood behind a stage rather than on it.

None of these thoughts were constructive or helpful as to how Luhan was supposed to act around him though. Sure, he should probably treat him like a normal person, but Luhan didn't know how people treated roommates. Was he supposed to talk to him or was it common courtesy to leave him alone? He'd also told him to help himself to food, but did that include the food on the table? What if Minseok made it for his own breakfast?

With a small groan Luhan dabbed his face dry with the small towel he had claimed for himself the previous day.

He was simply too tired to function and think clearly, so he could just as well give up on trying.

He walked back into the living area and towards the kitchen aisle. He grabbed himself a cup of water first. As he went to take the chair across from Minseok, he found the place had already been set. 

"Oh," he mumbled, and paused. His brain took about two seconds to catch up.

"Can I sit there?" he asked carefully, and Minseok raised a brow at him.

"I'm not seeing anyone else in here."

"Oh," Luhan said again, quite unintelligently, and sank into the chair. "I thought you might be expecting a visitor or something."

Minseok shot him a funny look, and Luhan felt embarrassed. He wasn't usually like this, he really wasn't. He was simply tired. And insecure. And the fact that Minseok was close enough for him to really see the faintest freckles spread across his face didn't help. The other was so gorgeous it was off-putting and next to his curly, perfectly messy hair, Luhan's head probably looked like a mop.

"When do you need to leave for work?" Minseok asked casually, closing the small book he had been reading. The table had clearly been built with only one person in mind, so the additional cutlery served for a tight fit and the book wandered off to a nearby shelf instead.

"Not sure," Luhan admitted, cutting open a bread roll. There was nice-looking cheese next to the fruit jam Minseok had used before, and a few slices of meat off to the side. He chose the cheese. "I need to start at eight. I still have the custom order to prepare."

"Right. Leave at half past seven," Minseok instructed calmly, and Luhan shot him a sceptical look.

"Where is this place right now?"

"It's always in the same place," Minseok shrugged, taking a sip of what looked like a cup of coffee. Luhan was just glad he didn't have to smell tea so early in the morning.

"Where the exit leads to, however... that one might differ. I can let you out south of the opera, that's the closest I can offer you."

"You can just pick a random place the door leads to?" Luhan asked, and Minseok remained ambiguous about it.

"Not a random place. There are options," he said evasively. Luhan was itching to ask further questions, but he was also pretty certain Minseok was not going to delve into the finer details of witchcraft with a stranger like him. Questions like "What else can you do" seemed extraordinarily stupid, as did asking about long it would take for the black markings to fade.

"Are you going out as well?"

When Minseok shot him a mildly questioning look, Luhan stalled his next bite.

"I mean. To... work. Or something."

Understanding bloomed on his face, and something about his gaze made Luhan feel underdressed. Subtly, he touched the corner of his mouth to check if there was anything stuck to it.

"Ah," Minseok hummed, still eyeing him up absently, like it was just something he did out of habit. "Yes, I have an appointment today. Two, actually. I might not be home tonight. Right."

With this, he tugged a slim, silver necklace over his head and undid the clasp. It had been hanging too low for Luhan to see the rings dangling off it, but now that Minseok placed one of them on the table, he could see that it was slim and silver, with a peculiar orange gemstone cut into a tiny square to fit the band.

"Wear this to find your way back," Minseok instructed, closing the necklace and letting the remaining two rings disappear into his shirt again.

Curiously, Luhan lifted the ring and put it on his left ring finger. It looked pretty and unusual, but not magical. It certainly didn't feel magical.

"I don't feel anything."

"Well, you're already here, are you not?" Minseok retorted, but he didn't sound particularly annoyed at Luhan's remark. "You might have to concentrate to activate it, but it'll lead you eventually. Don't lose it."

Luhan would have had a sarcastic comment for him if he wasn't so busy turning the ring to watch the stone shimmer in the light coming in from the ceiling. Meanwhile Minseok had gotten to his feet and grabbed something off the kitchen counter.

"Are you done?"

Startled into action, Luhan stuffed the remaining piece of bread into his mouth and hummed in agreement. He wasn't rich enough to own a pocket watch, but he didn't need one to know that he'd be late if he stalled much longer.

"Thanks for the food," he muttered, awkwardly carrying the plates and food over to the kitchenette, where Minseok told him to leave it.

Luhan threw on his long, flowy coat and the shawl, grabbed his bag and made his way to the door.

"Wait."

"Hm?" Luhan hummed, but Minseok only waved him over to where he was still standing at the kitchen counter. Unconsciously, Luhan touched the ring on his finger - he was still wearing it alright - and wondered whether he had done anything wrong.

Without a word, Minseok grabbed a familiar-looking bowl from the counter, swiftly stirring what looked like a yellow-ish cream.

"Are those yesterday’s rosehips?" Luhan asked. Instead of a reply, Minseok gestured for him to take off the shawl and reached over to untie the sloppily knotted ribbon keeping his coat closed. It felt a bit too intimate, the way the other's clever fingers undid the button too, slipping the coat over his shoulders until the black markings on his skin were on full display. He dipped two fingers into the cream and slowly smeared it over the sensitive, prickly skin.

Luhan would have been able to do this on his own, and he would have been able to point out just that, but currently, he just stood there, frozen into silence, his right hand digging uselessly into the shawl.

Minseok's gaze remained intense and focused, standing in stark contrast to how fluttery and nervous Luhan felt. Both the fingers and cream were cool, and it drowned out the itch as Minseok moved with deceptive care.

"They're moon fruits," he said quietly. "They need to be prepared away from sunlight in order to conceal magic. They'll cover up your mark."

"Oh," Luhan trailed off, ultimately closing his eyes and anchoring himself. He felt fingertips glide over the middle of his throat and off to the right side.

"Thank you," he added belatedly. It sounded a little too breathy, a little too heavy, so he added, "is it okay for me to know this stuff?"

The movement ceased, and his skin felt cool where the air fanned against the cream. Minseok let out a huff, and when Luhan opened his eyes, he looked faintly amused.

"You don't know anything. Don't worry about it."

Acting miffed was much easier than facing whatever else the witch made him feel, so Luhan did just that, rolled his eyes and turned away to check his appearance in the mirror. The cream was still absorbing, but his skin looked smooth and clean already.

He could see Minseok looking at him through the mirror, something entirely unreadable in his expression. It made him feel nervous, but tearing his gaze away seemed impossible even when their eyes met. He really wanted to look away, to hide, but something kept him rooted to the spot for a few seconds that felt like a small eternity.

* * *

  


Attraction. Yes, it must have been meaningless attraction.

Luhan wiped down an empty shelf with a damp rag, still every bit as lost in his thoughts as he had been in the morning.

He was no stranger to sexual attraction and his looks usually opened doors whenever and wherever he wanted them to, but he hadn't expected someone like Minseok to be interested in him. After all, he was a witch. A powerful, young, handsome witch who could easily have anyone he desired. For some reason, Luhan had taken him as someone who was above carnal urges, and yet he was absolutely certain the other had been appraising him earlier. Though if he thought about it… Minseok always looked at him like that, gaze intense and heavy, flickering down his body or lingering on his lips. He just hadn't thought anything of it.   
Not that the realization didn't make him feel uncomfortable or threatened - Minseok may be a witch and therefore morally shrewd, and he may be slightly arrogant and distant, but he'd shown nothing but respect for him so far. Even after only two days of knowing him, the idea of him suddenly turning into a predator was ridiculous.

_ Somewhow, you manage to think that despite him trying to strangle you when you first met_, a quiet, unimpressed voice added. If it had been a person saying it, they'd be staring at him with their hands on their hips and their eyebrows raised, Luhan just knew it. With a sigh, he placed the rag on the bucket rim. Of course, it slipped into the water right away, splashing dirty water onto his pant legs. He shot the rag a half-hearted glare and grabbed a dry strip of cloth.

It was true, Minseok had even said it out loud a few hours earlier.

_ You know nothing. _

He really didn't know anything, and attractive or not, Minseok was a witch. There was a _ reason _regular people weren't this sharp or pretty or captivating. Everything had a price, and witches weren't known to be terrible people for nothing. Even if Minseok was only interested in his body, Luhan would be best advised to stay away. He didn't need anyone telling him that. He should keep his distance, wait until the black markings had faded and then hope to never see Minseok ever again.

Not too hard of a task, really.

Luhan had never been one to go looking for trouble.

It had just found him this time, and oh boy, was it tempting him. What wouldn't Luhan give to bed someone like Minseok? Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity?

What might he be like, in bed? He seemed like an intense, clever lover, who probably knew exactly how to play another body-

"Luhan?"

He flinched. Hard. Yixing only grew more worried at that, inching closer from the backroom, placing something on the counter.

"Are you alright?"

What a wonderful question - _ was _he alright? Fantasizing about getting intimate with a witch? With a near stranger? Was he that desperate?

"Yeah. Of course I am," he muttered. "Just a little distracted."

He hadn't even been cleaning anymore, just staring absently at the cloth that he was now hastily re-folding to find another dry spot.

"Is that it?" Yixing trailed off, very obviously concerned.

The shelf had dried off all on its own, with the glass doors turning out slightly streaked. Luhan gave it a blank stare, and then gave up, hanging the cloth over a cupboard handle to dry. He’d clean it again soon enough, anyway. 

"Yeah. Didn't sleep well, sorry. Is anything wrong?" he asked, reaching for anything that might distract him from thinking of a gaze more piercing than a fine needle.

The doubtful look didn't disappear from Yixing's face as he reached for what turned out to be a newspaper.

"I've taken a look at yesterday's newspaper and read about the incident on the square."

"Oh?" Luhan asked carefully, unsure of how to react. He knew immediately that he was standing on thin ice with the way Yixing stared at him.

"It happened right when you went home, didn't it? I know you like to walk across the square," he trailed off, and Luhan swallowed. This was a cue he couldn't ignore.

"Yeah, I was there," he said as casually as he could muster. "Didn't see the entire thing though, because I was just passing through."

It wasn't exactly a lie, but Yixing's gaze remained probing and sceptic.

"I see... I read that there was a mass hallucination, and you've been acting strange the past two days," he said calmly. It was a loose, open statement asking for Luhan to fill the gaps, and best serve an explanation as to why he'd withheld the information in the first place. Luhan nodded, blinking rapidly as he tried to come up with a suitable reply.

"Yes, it was really... weird. I wasn't looking their way though, so I think it was less intense for me. Lots of lights and then everything went woozy. I'm fine though, it left nothing but a mild headache. It's all gone now."

Yixing kept staring at him, and Luhan forced his posture to relax, trying to look defeated and vulnerable.

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I don't know why I didn't mention it. It was just really uncomfortable and I didn't want to think about it. I should have mentioned it right away."

It worked, at least partially - now the concern was etched even deeper into Yixing's features, but it had taken on a slightly different color.

"Don't apologize," he hurried to say, voice growing softer. "I was just worried and wanted to let you know I'm here for you."

"I know," Luhan hummed, subtly hiding the hand wearing Minseok's ring from his view. He felt positively miserable over keeping something from Yixing, who was easily the most important person in his life, who had given him a chance when no one else had.

Now Yixing was placing a hand on his shoulder, looking gentle, but oddly serious still.

"Good. Remember, even if it's a matter of life or death, you can trust me."

"You're so dramatic," Luhan laughed, breathy and forced, and when the wind chimes announced the arrival of a customer, Yixing finally turned his attention away from him and Luhan's shoulders sagged in relief.

Yixing knew something, or at the very least had a vague idea of what had caused his change of heart - Luhan could only hope that he wasn't onto Minseok already. Leave it to him to notice even the smallest details and make connections like that - there was simply no fooling him. And even trying to made Luhan feel ashamed.

He wanted to tell him everything, he really did, but involving Yixing into this would make him a possible target to witches _ and _ humans, and he didn't deserve that.

Unaware of his inner turmoil, Yixing was shooting their customers a practised smile.

"How can I help you?"

They were two people, one of them a police officer of a low rank, judging by the single, shiny gem beneath his collar. Luhan had never been nervous at the sight of a police officer, but now he was, feeling caught red-handed, secretly associating with a criminal. Half a step behind him stood a cloaked figure who lifted their hood to reveal a finely crafted blindfold covering their eyes, the tell-tale white eye in the center. A government witch.

"Ah, my friend here needs a tea to soothe her sore throat."

Luhan tensed up, trying his best to hide it. Minseok had asked for the exact same kind of tea. Could that really be a coincidence?

"Of course. Any preferences or allergies?" Yixing asked smoothly, already slipping past Luhan in a fluid motion. The officer didn't even ask the witch.

"None. Just make it as effective as possible, please."

Yixing hummed, and as he swiftly measured what Luhan knew was a fruity, sweet signature mix of his, he made easy, friendly small talk, because that's what he considered being well-mannered.

"We were just reading the paper, about the witch escaping recently."

Luhan half-heartedly wiped down the top of a cupboard, simply to pretend having something to do. Unlike police officers, the presence of government witches had _ always _made him nervous. Not being able to look them in the eye was simply eerie, and government witches rarely talked in the presence of non-officials. Something about them was strangely inhuman, quietly fueling people's fear of witches. Looking at it in that moment, the difference between the witch at the counter and the two witches Luhan had met before was alienating, to say the least. Minseok in particular seemed elusive and mysterious, in a sharp, dangerous way, but there was no denying that he was full of life in ways this witch was not.

"Ah. Yes. We're still on the lookout for that one," the officer admitted with an unhappy sigh. "Apparently, last night’s finding could be traced back to him."

Yixing hummed in polite interest, and Luhan kept staring at the clean, wooden surface, pretending not to listen intently.

"Right, it will be another day until it's in the paper. We found a dead body last night, a civilian. Murdered."

Luhan felt his stomach twist.

"Looked like someone ripped a hole into him. It was nasty," the officer commented. How he could be so casual about it was beyond Luhan.

"Not the first case like that either."

"Why did he do that?" Yixing asked, and the officer shook his head.

"There ain't no reasoning with witches. They're mad in the head. Maybe he intended to use his organs for a ritual, maybe he was feeling bloodthirsty. Wouldn't be the first one. We're on to him though, it won't be much longer."

"Last night was when you found the victim?" Luhan piped up before he could help it. The witch was turning her head, slightly tilting it as she looked at him. It made him want to take his words back, but the officer was already giving him a confirming grunt.

"Bloody witch didn't even catch a break."

Last night, Minseok had been up with him, cleaning those moon fruits.

They were wrong.

"How do you know it's the same witch?" Luhan burst out, and this time, the regret was strong enough to send a cold shiver down his back. Yixing shot him a short, but meaningful look. The officer didn't seem suspicious as he leaned on the high counter and towards him.

"We know what we're doing. Trust me, kid," he assured him. The patronizing tone would usually make him bristle, but he had already talked too much. The witch wouldn't stop staring at him though, not while the tea was bagged, paid, and handed over. It was hard to tell, but the angle suggested that she was staring at his throat. There was simply no way to cover it up, so Luhan stood his ground, eyes on the counter until the door was pulled closed.

Yixing wordlessly unfolded an older order, placing it on the working surface for Luhan to see and prepare it with him. He didn't immediately jump him, but Luhan knew better than to think he'd let go of this, so he could just as well get this over with.

"I'm sorry."

He fully expected a gentle scolding about being nosy and potentially embarrassing the official, but to his surprise, Yixing only shot him a quick, inquisitive "What for?" and Luhan swallowed.

"For provoking the costumer? For being a bit insolent?"

It came out more like a question, he couldn't help it. That sort of behaviour wasn't unusual for Luhan though, so he hoped Yixing would let it go and not draw even more connections that would ensnare him.

"It's really not polite to question an officer's judgement," Yixing commented, tone strangely soft as he prepared measuring cups and other tools they needed. A distracted look to the paper told him that they were tasked to mix a luxurious tea for some noblewoman, one that put exotic taste before any medical effects.

Luhan kept his head low as he went through the motions of filling the order, prepared for the scolding to continue. It never did.

"They don't know whether it's the same witch," he said out of the blue, just when Luhan had begun to relax. "They always say this kind of things. Sounds better than saying that there's an unknown number of murderers on the loose."

Murderers. The word echoed around his head, leaving a numb trail behind. Luhan shifted uncomfortably.

"Is it truly realistic that every single witch kills people?"

"Of course not," Yixing replied easily, with the calm maturity no one else could keep when tackling such a taboo topic. "We don't know much about them, and we don't know the extent of their skills, but we _ do _know that they are capable of taking lives. We also know that some are doing it, ruthlessly. Remember the incident three weeks ago?"

Luhan grimaced. Of course he did. Someone had been found burnt alive, the skin melted from the heat. Identifying the body had taken a long time. It had been a harmless civilian, some shoe store owner.

"All humans have the potential slumbering in them, of course," Yixing continued after a short pause, still not looking Luhan in the eye. "Humans are dark and distorted creatures by design, with our entire life being a careful struggle against our inborn flaws. Witchcraft seems to be nesting closer to that dark core though..."

"Probably," Luhan commented lowly when Yixing trailed off. He sometimes did that, losing himself in thoughts. Like usual, he found the way back.

"Of course that's just a theory," Yixing said, a little more decisively, snapping back into preparing the tea. "But the fact remains that witches are very dangerous."

"I know," Luhan sighed, because now the talk was turning back around to the initial scolding he'd been waiting for.

"You're a really smart person, Luhan," Yixing said seriously, pausing in his motion to look him straight in the eye. "Don't put yourself in danger. Listen closely and trust your instincts, okay?"

Many unsaid words floated between them, and Luhan swallowed down the lump in his throat.

"I will," he promised quietly, and after a moment of silence, Yixing finally smiled at him, gently directing their attention back to the order at hand. They continued their work as if the talk had never taken place because Yixing knew he had driven his point home. Luhan could see through Yixing’s motives with ease - they simply knew each other inside and out. And they both knew Luhan would be thinking about this, would take his words to heart and still hear them in his head when he returned to Minseok's home later that evening. 

The ring had indeed led him there, guiding him through the streets until he stood before an unfamiliar door. Inside, Minseok was sitting in the singular, small armchair, reading a book.

"Hi. I'm back," Luhan announced awkwardly. He received a curt nod in return before the other's eyes were back on the paper.

He paused in the doorway, unable to stop himself from staring at Minseok, trying to picture the other ripping a hole into someone's chest. The scary thing was that he wouldn't put it past him. He _ could _picture it.

Minseok looked his way again, a questioning tick to his expression. Luhan swallowed, but didn't lower his gaze or back away. He had to know.

"Do you kill people?"

It sounded naive and Luhan internally cringed at the blunt, embarrassing way it sounded out loud. Instead of laughing or taunting him, Minseok simply stared at him in silence, expression carefully blank. When he finally seemed to decide on a reaction, it was accompanied by a slight tilt of his head indicating open, casual interest.

"Not usually. If you want someone dead, I'm probably not the first person to approach about it."

"So you did kill people in the past," Luhan pushed, not sure what he wanted the other to say, whether he even wanted a truthful answer. Minseok slowly lowered the book into his lap, not breaking eye contact.

"I don't kill for fun, if that's what you're aiming for. I try to avoid it but sometimes, it happens. Been years though."

"I'm not sure I understand," Luhan admitted, feeling a little inferior and confused.

"Then maybe you asked a question too complex for your current state of knowledge," Minseok replied evenly. He didn't seem overly upset, and Luhan sighed, still standing with his back to the door. Minseok was right. He really didn't know enough about what he was doing to be asking such questions.

"There was an officer and a witch at our store today," he began reluctantly. "They found someone with a hole in their chest last night. They said you did it."

Unfazed, Minseok reacted with a small shrug.

"You know what I did last night."

"I do."

It turned silent, but with Luhan not moving away from the door, the conversation wasn't over yet. He didn't dare look up and see the expression on Minseok's face.

"Last month, someone was burnt alive," he stated, and a small huff made him look up. Minseok looked slightly exasperated, a very mild reaction towards an incident this gruesome.

"Oh, yes, that. If you mess with Jongdae, you'll end up like that. Though to be fair, you need a special brand of presumptuousness to attack the capital's main patron."

Jongdae. That name again. The blacksmith Chanyeol had mentioned him before, making it sound like he was in a special relationship with Minseok.

"Patron?" Luhan asked carefully, but Minseok tutted almost soundlessly, shaking his head.

"Too complex again."

It should have maddened him and any other day, it probably would have, but the way he said it didn't feel condescending. It was almost gentle, like not receiving the answer to this question was in Luhan's best interest. Maybe he was being naive again. He'd been nothing but naive for the past two days, and he continued it now as he finally pushed himself off the door and walked towards the kitchenette.

"Have you eaten yet? Or is that too complex of a question, too?"

The atmosphere lightened up immediately, and Minseok followed along, a smile lingering on his lips and sneaking into his reply.

"That was a downgrade for sure, but I think you can handle that one."

"So?" Luhan asked again, already looking through the metal boxes in search of something edible.

"Not really."

Luhan rolled his eyes.

"The vaguest answer to such an easy question. I'm starting to think the issue doesn't lie with me."

He heard the other chuckle behind him. It made his heart skip a beat, switching off every alarm in his head. Luhan shook his head. He had to keep a hold of himself.

Yixing's words were still in the back of his mind, however.

_ Trust your instincts. _

What if his instincts didn't pick up on any danger?

What if they told him to trust Minseok? It might be the end of him.

Luhan held his breath if only to stop himself from sighing and focused on his search for a potential dinner.

His thoughts were running in circles, and if he wasn't going to do anything about his situation, he might as well stop driving himself insane.

While he prepared himself a simple dinner, he occasionally caught Minseok staring, the book open, but mostly useless in his lap.

It should have been unnerving, but all he felt was a fluttery, prickly warmth that felt too nice to extinguish by force.


	4. A Bowl of Soup

It had been a week and Luhan had yet to see a pattern regarding the location of Minseok's home. He'd left the store early, just around noon, since it wasn't too busy, and Yixing had all but shooed him out, not so subtly telling him to maybe go to the library again. It was obvious that he was still worried about him, and he was right about him neglecting the library recently. He decided to follow his advice after a quick change of clothes.

That day, Minseok's home was waiting for him in a deserted, shadowy alley close to the market, behind a dusty, wooden door.

It was always in a place without people, and he wondered whether the spell knew. He'd always harboured a silent fascination for magic and was convinced that every human denying such was lying to themselves.

The air changed when he opened the door, feeling oddly prickly, and his eyes immediately landed on Minseok, who was sitting on the floor, gaze fixated on something on the ground. With his light skin and white shirt, he was all but gleaming in the bright sunlight streaming in from above him.

If this was the sight of a truly evil witch, then Luhan could see how humans fell prey to them all the time.

At the sound of the door closing, Minseok's head shot up, brows scrunching together as he blinked against the sunlight in momentary confusion. Upon recognizing Luhan, his expression relaxed, only to be taken over by surprise as he fumbled with something on the ground. It looked like he had lost balance, despite him sitting on the floor.

"Come here and sit down," he ordered calmly, patting the ground to his right, slightly behind him.

Puzzled, Luhan left his bag by the door and followed his instructions. Slowly, he approached the other, stealing glances at what turned out to be a painted wooden board lying before him. Every possible question had died in his throat in favour of possibly witnessing actual magic, so he obediently sank to the ground, the board only half hidden from his curious eyes. It seemed to be good enough for Minseok, who lifted his palm from the board as if it had been about to levitate or slip away.

"Better," Minseok hummed. "You were tipping the balance. This will take a moment."

Luhan had no idea what the other was talking about, but he simply zipped it, silently trying to understand what he was looking at. The board had been painted by hand, with shades of dark pink and blood red watery paints layered over another, offering a canvas to precise, white chalk lines. Luhan tilted his head, tried to make sense of the rectangles and triangles pieced together like an exotic puzzle. The thick, strangely irregular yet purposeful line gave it away - it was a map of the city. Or was it?

Luhan wasn't too knowledgeable regarding maps, but he had lived in this city for his entire life, and the overall shape was befitting. The chalk lines didn't seem to separate districts though, at least not all of them. What was this map for, then?

The sunlight was filtering through the surreal shapes in the ceiling, throwing their own pattern of light onto the map. Luhan subtly looked up, but the sunlight was too blinding to try and decipher the shapes in the ceiling. He'd always assumed they were random gaps between construction beams, with parts of the roof simply missing, but maybe there was more to them.

For a while, it was perfectly silent to the point that he could hear Minseok's soft, even breathing. Outwardly, it looked like he wasn't doing anything at all, but Luhan wasn't foolish enough to distract him now.

It was hard to see it now, but he'd caught a glimpse of it earlier, while crossing the room - the markings on his face had seemed different than before, darker, too. Even from his current position, he could see them wind up the side of Minseok's neck, looking almost black. Had they gotten worse or had he simply not bothered to cover them up?

Sitting so close to Minseok and having nothing else to focus on made it easy to pick up on the subtle scent clinging to him - Luhan was obviously adept at identifying the scents of plants, but whatever this one was, it wasn't used in medicine or tea. Subtle might be the best word for it; a quiet, sweet whiff intertwining with a warm, tangy scent. Was it coffee?

Minseok shifted the board ever so slightly, ripping Luhan out of his thoughts. The pattern of light shifted, too, and it just _ kept going _even when his fingers had stilled. It was slow and barely visible, but something strange was going on, and Luhan unconsciously drew back a little, his eyes glued to the board nonetheless. There were no sparks or magical runes, just nature silently slipping out of its corset of rules, and when Minseok almost gently turned the board, the sunlight began to scorch the wood, leaving eerily precise, black dots behind. They only appeared below a certain triangle of light and Luhan watched as the board was slowly moved so the triangle shone on every piece of the map at least once until it was sprinkled with burnt dots of varying intensity.

The air shifted again, and Luhan knew it was over, knew it before the tension left Minseok's shoulders. The sunlight seemed to wane in its intensity, down to something more natural.

He slid forwards a little until he sat right beside Minseok, looking at the board.

"What's it showing? It's a map, right?" he asked, unable to help himself. Minseok shot him a mildly surprised look.

"It... is," he said carefully, and without the blinding light and the air being so distractedly prickly, he looked somewhat tired. It worried Luhan more than he wanted to admit to himself.

"Was that exhausting right now? Or is it the markings?"

Now Minseok looked a little taken aback, trying to blink the haze away.

"What?"

Luhan retreated immediately, feeling like he'd overstepped a line.

"Sorry. I just. I thought they looked different today, so I was thinking they might be giving you trouble, but. Never mind?"

For a moment, Minseok just looked at him, slightly confused and something Luhan simply couldn't interpret. Then he shook his head, and pinched his forehead with an audible exhale.

"It's nothing."

He got to his feet in one fluid movement, but his hand twitched towards the edge of his desk, clearly seeking balance. He caught himself though, dusting off his clothes.

"I'll be going out," he stated curtly, reaching for something on one of his shelves. Luhan awkwardly got to his feet but by then, Minseok was already halfway to the door.

He could only stand there and watch him go, closing the door deceivingly softly.

The air felt different when Minseok wasn't around, too, but Luhan had yet to figure out the exact difference. What he did notice, however, was the absence of the small dagger on the shelf.

He stared at the wooden board, unable to shake the wary feeling settling in his stomach.

The dot north of the river seemed so dark that it just swallowed the stray sunrays grazing it.

It also seemed to move ever so slightly, but that had to be his imagination.  


* * *

It was late at night when Luhan returned from the library, a small basket of leftovers dangling from his right hand. Maybe Minseok, who barely seemed to eat anything besides breakfast, would enjoy some of these simple baked goods - the library's kitchen wasn't luxurious by any means, seeing as it mostly operated on donations, but it was still more exotic than anything he'd seen on Minseok's kitchen table so far.

He pushed open the door only to be greeted by darkness, which meant that Minseok wasn't home yet. Or so he thought.

Upon getting inside, he could see dim light coming from his room, too weak to get actual work done.

Carefully, Luhan placed the basket down and inched forwards, to steal a glance through the open door into Minseok's bedroom. He didn't know what to expect, but the sight of a bundle on the bed was equal parts calming and worrying. Calming because the tuft of hair sticking out belonged to Minseok, and worrying because he never behaved like this. He never went to sleep before Luhan did, and he'd certainly never left the door to his bedroom open like that.

Rooted to the ground, Luhan fought an inner battle on what to do. The longer he stood there, the easier he could hear the other's breathing - short and shallow.

Something wasn't right.

"Minseok?" he asked carefully, stopping in the doorframe.

It took a split second for him to reply.

"Go away."

Luhan would have never hesitated in following that order, but the way it come out was weak and horse, fraying at the edges.

"Am I gonna get hurt for stepping into this room?"

"Yes," Minseok replied, but it came a tad too late, and Luhan could hear the underlying impatience. He decided to trust his gut feeling and entered the room, anyway. As expected, nothing happened, and the only thing he had to fear was the other's anger.

Minseok's room felt small, with his bed taking up most of the room, and the flickery oil lamp on his bedside table was too weak to illuminate any clear shapes. Luhan shot it a suspicious look - it shouldn't be flickering like this. The window was closed.

When he walked around the bed, it was hard to keep up a nonchalant expression. He probably failed, really.

Minseok looked sweaty and clammy, eyes pressed closed. The black markings had wandered up around his nose to his ear on one side. The fingertips clutching the blanket were almost entirely covered in black, too.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, hovering by his side, unsure of what he was supposed to do.

"Luhan, _ please_," Minseok croaked out, refusing to open his eyes. "Just _ leave_."

It seemed hard for him to speak and yet he'd bothered saying his name, for the second time ever.

"The markings have grown again," Luhan only stated, and Minseok shakily exhaled.

"The demon's just struggling. It's normal."

"Huh," Luhan hummed doubtfully. "It doesn't show on _ my _throat."

"Cause it's just some stains," Minseok began, and twitched horribly when Luhan placed the back of his hand on Minseok's cheek. Cold sweat. His eyes shot open and he glared at Luhan through glassy eyes. His usually clear, bright pupils looked strangely milky.

"You sure you didn't eat another demon?" Luhan asked unfazed, wiping the back of his hand on his pants. "Yesterday? And another one today? That map showed the locations of them, right?"

He could see it in the way Minseok closed his eyes again, avoiding an answer.

"I bet if I look at the board now, that ugly, big dot north of the river would be gone, right?"

"The fuck do you want from me, Luhan?" Minseok groaned, and he did sound exhausted and annoyed, but he was still using his name. He didn't usually do that. He never relied on any kind of personal approach to get his message across.

"You're cold, aren't you? And I bet you haven’t eaten yet, either. I'll go make some soup."

He ignored Minseok's faint, exasperated groan and went to the kitchen in search of anything suitable for a soup.

"You know," he began, raising his voice enough to reach the other over the clanking of pots, "is it possible that you just don't cook... at all? I feel like all of these have never been used and you never have any food in here, really."

Minseok's reply was too faint to be heard, but Luhan shrugged it off. He found enough familiar spices which were probably intended to be used for magical purposes, but Luhan shrugged that off, too. If he could recognize them, that meant they were common herbs and they could simply buy new ones.

He himself was far from being good at cooking, but certain dishes he just had to learn over time. Knowing how to make a simple soup to soothe a cold was essential when living alone. Luckily, he'd brought some vegetables, too, and made quick work of adding them.

"You don't even have salt, is that right?" he asked at some point, leaning into the room. Minseok gave up.

"In the green pot, below the sink."

"Great, thanks," Luhan quipped, purposefully not commenting on how slurry Minseok's voice sounded. He wasn't running a fever or had an actual cold, and Luhan didn't know how to help him, but being around and making him eat couldn't cause any harm. Maybe he'd eventually ease up and let him know whether he could actually help him.

Minseok owned an entirely ridiculous amount of salt and again, he suspected that it wasn't used for cooking.

In the end, Luhan was pretty proud of the result, considering the very few ingredients he'd had.

Unceremoniously, he sat down at the edge of Minseok's bed, balancing a half-filled bowl of soup in his lap.

"Can you eat on your own?" he asked, genuinely ready to feed him. Minseok shot him a filthy glare that would have been terrifying under different circumstances, but he sat up nonetheless, swaying a little in the process. He took the bowl and the spoon, begrudgingly starting to eat. Luhan could tell by the other's movements that it was not an easy feat for him, but since he refused to let it show, Luhan decided to let him be.

"You gotta eat more than some demons," he reminded him nonetheless, and Minseok shot him a hazy, unimpressed look.

"I'll eat you next."

It was easy to ignore the warmth coiling in his stomach when Minseok looked like he was about to faint any second.

"You'll just get more sick," Luhan dismissed him, tapping the black spots on his throat.

"I'll cure you first."

"Cure yourself first," Luhan said without missing a beat.

Clearly, he had won the argument, because Minseok looked down into his soup, brows furrowed in a mix of pain and concentration.

"You're so annoying," he muttered, and Luhan leaned back on his hands.

"I try."

"What for though?"

Luhan glanced at him with his head tilted in question.

"Why do you try though?" Minseok slurred, scooping up a slice of rice cake. He cringed at the way his own voice came out, and then the rice cake fell off the spoon, splashing back into the soup.

Without a comment, Luhan scooted closer and reached out to hold the bowl, both hands gently running over and beneath Minseok's fingers until the other gave up. He held it a little higher, making it easier for him to focus on just spooning up the soup.

"Why wouldn't I?" he then asked calmly, voice dropping instantly at the closer proximity. "It's not like it's asking much of me. You feel like shit, so what? Happens to all of us."

"I never know whether you're dumb or not," Minseok muttered, and Luhan exhaled for lack of a chuckle.

"I'm dumb most of the time, but helping sick people doesn't count."

"How about moving in with a witch who almost killed you?" Minseok countered. Luhan shrugged.

"Accidents happen. And you did say you'd cure me. That better not have been a lie."

Minseok's reply came faster this time, and despite him avoiding eye contact, it sounded uncharacteristically raw.

"Of course not. I'll get rid of it and you'll never see me again. You deserve that much. It's only fair."

That stung a little more than Luhan liked to admit - maybe Minseok was right and he was dumb, but he couldn't imagine returning back to the life where magic and witches were unpredictable evils.

He didn't know what to say, so he simply waited for Minseok to finish his soup, alternating in the way he held it so his arms wouldn't ache.

When he was done, Minseok licked his lips - a motion Luhan followed before he could help it.

With a sigh, Minseok leaned back against the wall, head thrown back to display his mostly black, glistening throat.

"Thanks," he breathed out, interrupting Luhan's thoughts about wanting to touch the tainted skin.

"Anytime. It was just a soup, anyway," Luhan dismissed him, placing the bowl on the nearby windowsill. "Hardly what a witch needs to cure demon-induced stomach ache, I guess."

Minseok hummed in negation.

"It did help."

He was still swaying when he slumped forward to looked at Luhan with nothing but a hand's length separating them but there was an odd intensity to his gaze.

"I feel better already. Let me try something."

"Try what?" Luhan asked, and it came out way too small and breathy for his liking.

The hand running up to rest in his neck was slightly damp, but not all that cold anymore.

Minseok's bangs were also sticking to his forehead, but his eyes were less milky, an his eyelashes pretty as ever, and then Luhan was tugged forwards just enough for him to press his lips against the side of his throat. It was warm, prickly, and set off enough sudden desire for Luhan not to push him away immediately. He didn't grab him, either, just slightly bared his neck as his own breath hitched.

Warm, sweaty, and a little musky. That's what Luhan's senses were picking up on. None of these should make his body go haywire like it did, but it also felt entirely unmagical, the way Minseok nipped and sucked at his skin, the hand in his neck tightening as if to keep him there.

Trying to hold the sigh in only made it come out short and small, like the smallest moan, and Luhan dug his hands into his own thighs, drowning in the urge to lean into it, to let him know how much liked it so he wouldn't stop-

Minseok drew away, and now Luhan was the one feeling dizzy and lost. He tried his best to blink away the haze, to not let on just how much he'd love suck on Minseok's lips in return.

"Hm," Minseok hummed unhappily, squinting at Luhan's skin, entirely unfazed by what had just happened. "I thought I could suck it out but... I guess not. Sorry. You'll have to wait, after all."

Luhan stared at him, dearly hoping all of his emotions had slipped behind the wave of exasperation taking center stage. Minseok looked at him in question, completely unaware of what this had done to Luhan, who saw the slight flush dusting his cheeks and gave up.

"Get some sleep," he sighed, getting to his feet and reaching for the bowl.

"You look like you need it."

Minseok attempted to scoff, but laid down nonetheless, and Luhan extinguished the lamp.

Falling asleep was decidedly hard that night, with how he was torn between unfocused arousal, worry and the genuine look at Minseok he had gotten that day.

There was apparently a lot more to know about Kim Minseok, the demon-eating witch, and Luhan would be a liar if he acted like he wasn't itching to get closer to him.


	5. The Witch Diner

It wasn't like Luhan had no hobbies at all, but going to the library was second nature to him, especially if he had an entire day off. If he was being honest with himself, it felt more like home than his actual apartment sometimes. At least he'd missed _ this _place ever since he’d temporarily moved in with Minseok.

He could feel his steps getting lighter as he walked up the familiar marble stairs, the sun just teasing over the horizon. For the first time, Minseok had still been asleep when he left. He'd mixed up a simple kind of tea with the plants he could find - it was nothing too fancy, but he left it in a pot on his bedside table, anyway. Apparently, living with a witch did have its bright sides, since Luhan couldn't think of anyone else having dandelion roots in their home.

He'd looked a little better already, with the markings looking much fainter than the day before, which is why Luhan figured it would be alright to leave him alone to rest.

Sunyoung was already sitting at the reception desk, looking wide awake and bright as usual.

"Morning! You're early today, is the store closed?" she asked as Luhan slipped behind the desk to squeeze her shoulder in a quick, but hearty greeting.

"Hey. Yeah, I'll be here all day," he announced, and she smiled.

"Always nice to have you."

Luhan went past her and took another staircase towards the staff room he was assigned to.

Staff rooms weren't a given, and with Luhan having a stable job, he rarely slept over at the library anymore, but he still had the key to this room. After all, he'd been volunteering for over ten years now, which made him part of the library.

The modest, clean room was empty - not surprising since the other four people owning a key each had busy lives of their own.

Luhan flopped down on the single bed standing in a corner and sighed.

This felt good. This felt like home.

He could still remember the first time someone had allowed him into one of the staff rooms, despite it being somewhat against the rules - it had been Yongguk, he was pretty sure. Back then, Luhan had been hopping from cheap hotel to cheap hotel, never staying too long because he didn't feel safe anywhere as a child. Living from day-to-day had been everything he'd known ever since the orphanage had closed and declared him an adult. It had been alright, and he would have made it either way, that much Luhan had always been sure of. On a particular rainy day when he found no hotel befitting the meagre amount of money in his pocket, he'd first caved in and stepped into the library, convinced they'd throw him out.

The capitol's library was open to everyone, had always been, but Luhan had been drenched and somewhat dirty from working all day. He must have looked downright miserable back then, like the shivering, helpless kid he'd been. Looking back, it was no wonder Yongguk had taken pity on him.

Luhan had vaguely known of the library, had known that it was a place funded by donations, offering shelter and even food to those who were in need, and to him, the enormous stone complex had always looked like a bit of a castle. Way too elegant and official for a street rat like him. That day, though, he'd been cold and desperate, and it had changed his life forever.

He swung himself back up again and stretched his arms over his head, exhaling contently.

As much as he was captivated by the world of magic teasing him with little insights and even more questions... being far from it was nice, too. Luhan wasn't fond of crowds, needed a bit of alone time on the regular, really, and while Minseok was anything but loud, there was no denying that he had a _ presence_.

Right here, in his room at the library, Luhan had always felt more at home than in his own apartment. It was simply, blissfully calm and quiet in a way no other place was or would ever be.

With a chuckle, he flopped to his right side, staring at the few, lonely photographs lined up on a shelf.

What should he do today? He did have quite a few options. He could help out in the main complex, the hall where the books were stacked and sorted over multiple floors. This was actually what he liked doing the most, so he decided to go for it if they had enough staff in the other areas like the kitchen or cleaning crew. The library was a little like a society of its own, and there were even people giving classes in some far away rooms, but the heart of it would always remain the entrance hall with all its wonderful stone staircases, bookshelves, and tables.

_ 'It's not always the books telling the stories_,' one of the seniors had said to him back then. _ 'Sometimes, it's the people. And there's always someone around who's willing to listen.' _

Luhan himself could go on and on about the life lessons he'd learnt from his seniors during the many hours he had spent around them, always watching, listening, imitating.

He had lived in the orphanage until he was thirteen years old, but if anyone asked him, he'd say that he grew up in the library.

A few hours of cleaning and a small snack later, Luhan was finally in the main hall.

Now he wasn't nearly around as much as he used to, and there was currently no kid living entirely under their wing - apparently, that had been a rare exception and in hindsight, it made a lot more sense why everyone seemed so invested and protective over him back then. Still, if he were to teach anyone the ropes, he'd take them to the hall, sit them down and tell them to simply watch the people around them.

That day, he saw many old friends - there was the young woman who'd been seeking shelter at the library for years, escaping her violent parents. Nowadays, she was in a better place, but she still came by regularly, because the library staff had become her friends. It usually started out like that - they'd seek help, become attached, and sooner rather than later, they'd help out, too. It might start small, by dusting off books to keep themselves busy, until at some point, helping out became a routine. It wasn't like any of that was planned - it was simply the most natural way things would develop. Kindness is often rewarded with kindness if only you're patient, his mentor Yongguk would say. And Luhan was glad that this was the case. He'd never bothered trying to find his family and never kept in contact with other kids from the orphanage, but he never felt lonely. He had the fellow library staff members and visitors, who ranged in age so much that they felt just like a complete family, the way you saw it in the books. There were aunties and kids, brothers and sisters, and Luhan wouldn't have it any other way.

And then there was Yixing, of course.

Yes, Luhan was given a surprising amount of happiness and love, considering his background. The least he could do was to always do his best and stay attentive and grateful.

That day, doing his best equated to simply chatting to both his friends and unfamiliar visitors. Listening. Just being there when maybe no one else was. Luhan knew quite a few staff members who didn't care for random strangers or didn't seek the company, but he certainly didn't mind and almost felt duty-bound to make people's library visits as soothing as they'd been for him.

Ironically, this often left him completely exhausted by the end of the day, but that was alright.

By the time the sun was going down, his eyes were itching, his feet vaguely aching and his throat felt dry, but overall, it was a satisfying kind of ache. A strong testimony of a good day.

He stretched his neck and back as well as he could at the foot of the library stairs. It was time to find Minseok's home. The magical ring was telling him to go north, the tugging so faint he could easily miss it if he wasn’t looking for it. It was somewhat fun to not know where his evening stroll would lead him, but at the same time his aching muscles hoped it wouldn't take too long.

"Long day?"

He almost kept walking, not realizing that the words were directed at him, but the familiar mop of curly, black hair caught his attention before his mind could put the voice to Minseok's face.

He was sitting at one of the tables at a nearby cafe, leaning back in his seat with a cup of coffee before him. A surprising, but not unwelcome sight.

"Oh. It's you."

Two steps later, he stood next to the table, one hand lazily resting on the strap of his back.

"You look much better today."

Something flashed over the other's expression, too fleeting to interpret it, and then he was back to the small, sharp, distanced smile Luhan had come to expect from him.

"Trying to make me take you home?" he asked, a teasing lilt easily dismissing Luhan's unspoken worries and questions. He did look better though - sure, he was probably somehow hiding the black markings, but his eyes looked clear again, and he seemed back to being in control of himself. Which was why Luhan let him off the hook with a huff.

"Please. I'd do better than that."

"Sure you would," Minseok hummed with an entirely suggestive once over that would make Luhan blush if he wasn't so very stubborn.

"So you're just sitting here, hitting on random strangers?" he quipped, shifting on the balls of his feet.

Minseok pretended to think about it.

"Only you," he then said. It came out playful and devilishly smooth, and Luhan had been living with him for a little too long to have it.

"Uh-huh, that reply came pretty late. I see what kind of game you're playing."

"You don't make it easy to be nice to you," Minseok retorted, tone still light and somewhat teasing.

"Sounds like something a casanova would say."

"Let's get something to eat."

"Huh?"

But Minseok had already gotten to his feet, leaving a coin beneath the coffee cup - which was empty, with the last drops having dried up already.

"You haven’t eaten yet, have you?" he asked, throwing an expensive-looking coat over his shoulders.

"Not really," Luhan hummed as he trailed after the other, who immediately took a purposeful turn into a narrow alley.

"Good."

He didn't immediately say anything after that, but Luhan was used to the silence by now. It gave him time to reflect on how much more playful Minseok had recently become. It wasn’t unusual for him to have a stray, suggestive line or look for him, but he seemed exceptionally playful and while that was fun, Luhan could only hope it wasn't linked to the somewhat embarrassing incident of the night before.

Which was a hilarious thought because if anything, it should be embarrassing to Minseok. Judging by what he knew of the other, however, he wouldn’t even be surprised if he turned even a situation like this to his own advantage.

He didn't bother asking where they were headed - if Minseok didn't tell him straight up, he wouldn’t tell him upon asking, either. Whether it was because he felt like he shouldn't, or whether he just derived slightly sadistic pleasure from throwing Luhan into the cold water was unclear. So far, Luhan had obviously stood up to whatever the past weeks had thrown at him though, and no dining place would top being whisked away from an execution scene by the person supposed to be executed, so he wasn’t all that worried.

They were walking down the dingy district west of the library where tiny, affordable restaurants were squeezed beside each other, constantly trying to invade each other's space. Luhan had eaten in a few of them, had worked for half of them somewhere along the line, and vaguely hoped Minseok wouldn't choose the noodle restaurant on the corner - he'd had some bad experiences in that one.

But no, Minseok kept walking until he unexpectedly turned to open a door. It was unexpected to Luhan because at first glance, he had stopped between two restaurants. The second and last glance Luhan could catch before following him inside made him think of a brothel or club - but the thick smell of food wafted over as soon as the door was opened. It was definitely a diner despite there being no tables in sight. Restaurants offering private booths weren't a rarity, but they were usually more upscale than this, without red lights and blank walls. Private booths in shabby places just made Luhan slightly wary, like he wasn't supposed to be there. Obviously, Minseok didn't share his sentiments and simply knocked on the small counter, placing a blue coin down. Luhan had never in his life spent a lapis lazuli coin on food, and he could only assume receiving a booth and paying for food came separate. The thought was a bit nauseating.

A green key was placed on the counter. The fact that nothing but a hand was seen, the fact that no one had spoken a word yet, really, all of it added to Luhan’s unease.

Minseok hadn't spoken to him in a while either, and he was smart enough to wait for him to start talking again.

They walked down a claustrophobic, equally badly lit corridor until Minseok opened a door to his right. Inside, a small, but clean booth was awaiting them, with no windows but perfect lighting.

A little _ too _perfect, Luhan mused as he slipped onto the plush bench, staring at the ceiling while he awkwardly shrugged out of his jacket. There was a complex of oil lamps dangling from the ceiling but their light was way too bright and the air way too clean, with an entirely unnatural prickling sensation gently fizzing against his skin. It should be extremely hot and stuffy in this tiny booth, but it wasn't.

Minseok closed the door and slid into his seat across him. Now he was shooting him a clearly amused look.

"You're learning," he stated, and Luhan glanced up at the lamps again, considered asking about this room, but then decided to switch up his approach.

"I've never been to this place," he stated neutrally, waiting for Minseok to follow up, which he did.

"I can imagine. It doesn't look very inviting."

He placed a palm on the blank table, two fingers pressed together, and in a slow, but effortless move, he dragged it across the surface. Beneath, letters appeared, a little blotchy like someone had etched them into the table and lined them with ink afterwards.

"But the menu's pretty good."

If he expected Luhan to be shocked, well, he was in for a disappointment. He only leaned in closer, trying to make out the letters.

"I really hope you're planning on treating me cause I don't order off menus without prices," he said matter-of-factly, and Minseok made a tiny sound that might have been a snort.

"I will," he said quietly, eyes scanning the list of dishes.

It was hard to focus on them when part of his mind was dedicated to analyzing Minseok. What kind of statements amused him, which ones prompted him to tease, which ones to reassure? What made him go quiet and shoot him this unreadable, odd gaze that went too deep to look away?

Even casual conversations kept tripping him up because whenever he thought he'd had a good grasp on Minseok, he'd turn things around and go down a very different direction.

A perfectly manicured nail was softly tapping on the wood.

"I've had this one last time," Minseok hummed. "It was pretty good."

Fried meat did sound good, and even just reading these made him realize how hungry he actually was.

"I'll give it a shot, then," Luhan said, because he didn't know what he was expecting, anyway, and with Minseok paying, he might as well follow his lead.

The other hummed and dragged a fingertip over the line of text, which faded out all on it's own. Just like before, it was strangely unmagical, and yet undeniably surreal. He did the same to the special dinner of the day, and, after receiving confirmation by Luhan, tapped on the little corner that listed drinks.

"So... a line for one order, a tap for two?" Luhan asked while Minseok wiped the entire menu off the table like he was brushing away dust.

"Interested in magic?" he asked like he was flirting, and Luhan leaned back with a shrug.

"Who wouldn't be?"

Minseok's gaze softened a little.

"Plenty of people. Anyway," he began, changing directions immediately, "you were right about one thing; I don't cook, and I figured you might wanna sit down during dinner."

"You think I can't keep my mouth shut in public?" Luhan joked, but it dawned on him that Minseok had chosen this place on purpose, because it was apparently safe to talk here.

"A silent dinner for two might look a little sad, don't you think?" Minseok only asked in return.

If he had chosen this place with the option to talk about taboo topics like witchcraft, that also meant he was open to it. They'd been living together for awhile now, but Minseok had never really talked about anything related to him being a witch, and upon being asked, he usually stayed elusive.

Now that he had the vague chance of success, Luhan didn't know what he wanted to ask first.

_ Maybe this question is too complex for your current state of knowledge_, Minseok had said about a week ago.

Then what _ was _a question befitting his current state of knowledge?

"Is it really alright to talk here? Can I just ask whatever?"

Minseok slightly tilted his head, looking equal parts patient and encouraging.

"You can. Not saying you'll get an answer, but you can try. This place is safe."

His eyes flickered over to the door, where a row of symbols ran down the door frame on both sides. They'd been drawn in green ink, using a boldly shaped brush, giving them a traditional look. They also hadn't been visible earlier, but Luhan didn't let that distract him.

"See the eye? With the triangles around it?"

He had to lean in a little closer to see it, but among symbols used by witches the eye was by far the most prominent, easily recognizable by even ordinary people. It always had a bit of an ominous feeling to it, but this one looked particularly unsettling, with the pupil being colored entirely.

"It's filled, meaning that no one's able to watch us," Minseok explained. "The two triangles are symbols for ears and they, too, are colored. The symbol only keeps track of the magic happening in here. That’s done by the two droplets on the left bottom, and the symbol around it."

Luhan shot him a quick glance, but the other seemed nonchalant and casual about explaining this to him. After a last look at the symbol, he leaned back in his seat, ready to open the box of questions that had piled up over the past days.

"Okay, so... I've been wondering about some things. Like, how many witches are there, in this city?"

Immediately, Minseok shrugged.

"I don't know. Never counted them."

"More than ten?" Luhan prodded, and Minseok was back to smiling now.

"Definitely more than ten."

"More than thirty?"

This time, he was hesitating, considering it, and Luhan took that as an answer. He had no idea what kind of number he'd been expecting - sometimes, it felt like they were surrounded by witches, while other times, they seemed to be a rare phenomenon. It only made more obvious how much humans were leading each other on blind; how much people made each other nervous, spread fear and mistrust to the point that the truth ended up being a complete mystery. Minseok could have told him there's five witches in total, or a hundred, and both options would have seemed equally believable.

Slowly, he was beginning to understand what Minseok had meant by him not knowing anything.

"Do they all fight demons?"

He could see Minseok's gaze turn slightly questioning.

"Right now, I'm kind of the only one, actually," he replied, clearly curious as to where he was going with this. Luhan nodded knowingly.

"So that's why no one's helping you."

There was actual surprise on Minseok's face, but before he could reply, there was a knock on the door.

The waitress carrying their food wore a cloth over her eyes and a mysterious smile. It was eerily similar to a government witch, but something about her felt more human still. She placed the plates and drinks on the table, wished them a good meal, and left.

For just a moment, all the questions about witches and magic were forgotten at the sight and smell of the warm, delicious dish before him.

The silence lasted for about five bites of crispy, fried meat and vegetables.

"Was this done by magic, too?"

Minseok fished out a few noodles from beneath a marinated fish.

"If it was, don't you think our dinners at home would be more exciting?" he asked, an uncharacteristic kind of self-deprecating humor lingering between the lines.

"Creating food with magic isn't entirely impossible, but it's complex. Not worth the effort, really," he shrugged, eyes on his food.

Luhan hummed in acknowledgement.

"So," he began, steering the conversation back to his catalogue of questions. "If you're the only one fighting demons, then what do the others do?"

"Well, what do people usually do?" Minseok asked right back at him, and it was Luhan's time to shrug.

"I don't know. Have a job. Have a family?"

"There you go," Minseok supplied evenly, scooping up a piece of fish with his fork. "Though witches and families don't mesh well. Witches and _ people_, really. Not even witches and witches."

"But why is that? Shouldn't you guys... stick together? Or something?" Luhan asked, feeling terribly naive. Minseok took his time chewing and swallowing, but knowing that he was getting answers was enough for Luhan not to become impatient.

"Witches are not team players. We're simply not. Everyone doing their own thing and being amicable is the most you'll see. So next time you see a newspaper claiming a witch conspiracy, you know they're getting creative again. There is no such thing as witches operating in teams."

"Huh," Luhan trailed off, tossing the somewhat depressing thought around his head. Sounded pretty lonely to him. Who did Minseok approach when he needed it? Who did he confide in, talk to, lean on?

"What if your relatives are witches? Wouldn't you be close to them?"

"Witchcraft isn't hereditary, at least not as far as I know," Minseok dismissed him. "I left when I knew what I was going to be."

"Because they wouldn't accept it?" Luhan asked carefully, and Minseok shook his head.

"You don't want to be the parent to a witch in this town."

"Right."

That made sense. It sounded lonely, but Luhan decided to think about that later, when Minseok stopped being so generous with his answers.

"When did you know? Or how?"

"I don't know about others, but I always knew. It just took me a few years to understand."

It didn't make a whole lot of sense and yet Luhan thought he understood. He wanted to ask more about that but there was another question burning on his mind.

"Can I ask you about these demons?"

"I'm surprised you didn't go for that sooner," Minseok quipped with a small smile that could actually be interpreted as benign. "The prospect of invisible monsters tends to upset people."

"More or less than being kidnapped in broad daylight?" Luhan asked light-heartedly. "Jokes aside though, what are they? If you're fighting them, that means they're bad, right? Dangerous, I mean," he elaborated under Minseok's mildly amused look.

The other hummed thoughtfully. For the first time that evening, he seemed to have to think of how to phrase his answer.

"They can be dangerous, yes. If they grow too much, if they infect a human, if they just... taint the air. All sorts of things can happen."

"Like what? Do people get sick?" Luhan asked carefully, and judging by Minseok's slightly scrunched nose, he already knew the answer.

"Not exactly," he began, looking around until he seemed to remember something. "You heard of that incident where a school teacher went rabid, like an animal? It was quite some time ago."

Luhan had heard of that. He'd never stepped foot inside an actual school - the orphanage could hardly afford that, but they had put in an effort to teach them the basics - but that tale was commonly known. The man had gone completely crazy to the point where someone killed him in self-defense. The case had been so rare and peculiar that the panic subsided soon enough, with people chalking it up to a single, insane person.

"That's a pretty common reaction to a demon festering inside of a human," Minseok explained, catching the way Luhan's hand twitched up to his throat. "Don't worry. It takes much more than a few spots to get there. What you have is basically just dirt."

Luhan shot him an unimpressed look for an answer.

"But if they're so dangerous, why does no one else fight them?"

"They're not all that dangerous to witches. And witches aren't particularly interested in human affairs. You can call it cruel, but if it was about the life of a witch, they wouldn't care either."

"But you care," Luhan pointed out, without skipping a beat.

"I wouldn't go that far," Minseok hummed evasively. He put down his cutlery and leaned back in his seat.

"So, is that it for the interrogation?"

Luhan thought about it.

"Last one," he promised, and Minseok nodded, vaguely encouraging him.

"Why did you answer all these questions?"

He looked fairly relaxed but kept very still, which didn't go unnoticed by Luhan.

"So I can ask one, too," he said. It sounded light, like a suggestion almost. Luhan lowered the glass he'd been lifting to shoot him a sceptical look.

"Just one, huh? I get that I'm not very interesting but that doesn't seem like a fair deal to you."

"I'll make it count," Minseok reassured him with a quiet smile.

"Okay?" Luhan asked, feeling irrationally nervous all of a sudden.

Minseok didn't make him wait any longer.

"Did I make you uncomfortable yesterday?"

_ What? _

Luhan stared at him as one second ticked by, a second one following.

"Oh, so all of this is supposed to be an apology?" he asked, not angry in the slightest. The words had simply tumbled out to dance around the question that Luhan wanted to inspect further before replying.

Minseok huffed.

"No. Though you'll get one. If you want one."

The way he looked at him forced Luhan to shut up and seriously think about what to say.

It was hard to do so, with Minseok's undivided attention resting on him. It felt like the other was ready and capable of reading the answer off his face if he didn't pay attention.

And Luhan did not want him to know. Not all of it, at least.

Because that would mean to display weakness, to roll over and submit.

And that would be no fun, now would it?

He pretended to think about it.

"Yeah, I was somewhat uncomfortable," he admitted, a faux display of earnestly. "Because you stopped mid-way."

Carefully, he moved his leg until it bumped against Minseok's. He didn't stop, didn't give it time to be awkward and entangled their legs while keeping eye contact. The flicker of insecurity had long passed, making room for desire.

"Am I getting my apology now?" Luhan asked quietly, challengingly.

Minseok crossed his arms, tilted his head to the other side, and shot him a meaningful look.

"Sure. I apologize. For stopping."

"Good," Luhan quipped, and it came out just a little breathy because Minseok decided to rub his legs against Luhan's.

Yes, this... this was much more fun.


	6. Paper Spells

"I've been thinking."

Minseok hummed, quickly cleaning the plates with a wet dishcloth. Cleaning, too, was apparently not worth the magical effort.

"Did you do that on purpose, the entire 'sucking out your demon marks' thing?" Luhan asked, even more straight-forward due to his drowsy state. He was getting there, after sharing a rather lengthy, albeit quiet breakfast with Minseok, and this had been half-heartedly echoing around his head all morning.

"You're still thinking about that?" Minseok asked, a teasing lilt dancing along the syllables as he handed Luhan a plate to dry. Luhan refused to amuse him, instead turning the conversation back to him.

"Well, I feel like you might have fooled me all along. So, did you?"

It had been almost ten days since the incident, and Luhan hadn't _ constantly _thought about it, quite the opposite. It had started to fade from his mind when, for some reason, he'd dreamt of Minseok doing it again, crowding him in, biting and kissing along his neck, making him feel woozy, aroused, and strange.

There was none of that heavy atmosphere right now, when Minseok's wet fingers touched Luhan's way more than necessary while handing over the next plate.

"I would like to say that it was, but I would have been smarter about that."

His tone remained light, and the past few days had proven just that, so Luhan's reply came without hesitation.

"I bet you would."

The past days had all been like this - filled with nothing but benign teasing.

That one evening at the restaurant seemed to have kicked something loose and Luhan should probably have been the bigger person and put a stop to it, but he didn't. He simply didn't. Instead, he played along, always ready to top Minseok's advances, to be just a little bolder, to toe the line just a little further; because that's what they were doing: toeing an invisible line without ever truly crossing it.   
It was a little absurd, how Minseok's feet would slide up Luhan's calf during dinner, or how Luhan got way too close to fix a strand of Minseok's freshly washed hair without _ anything _ ever happening. They were both enjoying the game, the pleasant little friction, simply riling each other up a little but never intending to seek something more than a small thrill. Never before had Luhan met a person willing to play like that, and he loved it. Sure, at some point one of them would cave, probably, but making Minseok crack seemed near impossible, which made everything oddly comfortable. Comfortable, yet thrilled was actually an accurate description of what Luhan was feeling when two slim, purposeful fingers ran down his spine, nails softly scraping the fabric of his shirt.

"All ready for work?" Minseok hummed, his presence warm beside Luhan.

"Getting there," Luhan replied quietly, grabbing the last item on the table to return to his messenger bag - the tub of moon fruit cream. He opened it nonchalantly, absolutely ready to try and make the process of applying cream look more sensual than it had any right to be, when a warm hand covered his and he was turned sideways by a gentle, but firm grip on his side.

He made a questioning sound, but the playfulness had vanished from Minseok's eyes as he assessed his throat. Instinctively, Luhan closed his eyes when he felt a warm hand cupping his skin, thumbing over the markings.

Minseok didn't say a word but he didn't have to - Luhan had noticed it, too, how his markings had marginally faded but were still very much there, while Minseok himself had healed completely already.

"Wanna try kissing them again?" Luhan asked lowly, blinking the daze away, but not moving away from the other's touch. It was nothing but an attempt to cheer him up, that much was obvious. MInseok didn't pay him any heed as he stared at the markings, evidently lost in thought. They weren't painful in any way, but with Minseok's thumb slowly applying pressure, a prickling sensation kept rising in intensity. When Luhan twitched involuntarily, the pressure left in an instant. He could feel the other swipe his thumb over them almost apologetically.

"Are you free after work?" Minseok asked evenly, not betraying anything.

Luhan shrugged.

"Sure."

Minseok stepped away and towards the kitchenette, going through a cupboard.

"Good. I'll come get you. We'll see someone today, to look at your throat."

Luhan simply hummed, not asking further questions as he efficiently applied the cream. As far as he could tell, asking another witch for help was a big no-go among them, not to mention that it probably ate away at his pride. If he expected Luhan to be angry over him dragging this out, well, he'd be off by a long shot. Luhan wasn't in any pain and felt safe being near Minseok. Saying this entirely out of the blue would be odd though; Luhan deemed it more effective to place a palm on his shoulder while he was rummaging through the kitchen, suddenly very intent on working. He didn't turn around, not when Luhan let his hand slide a little lower, cupping his shoulder blades, soothingly sliding up again with just enough pressure to feel the warmth bleeding through the fabric.

"I'm off to work," he said quietly. No flirtatious tone, no implications, just reassurance.

In a weird way, this was harder to stomach, and Luhan left without another word, embarrassment hot on his skin.

* * *

"I don't think your boss likes me a whole lot," Minseok stated lightly, a few hours later. They had just left the store, walking down the streets under a grey and gloomy sky. Luhan could smell the upcoming rain and tugged his scarf a little higher, just to be sure.

"Yixing? He's kindness personified."

Predictably, Minseok made a sceptical sound. Considering the extremely pointed look Yixing had shot him, that was understandable.

Luhan picked his next words wisely.

"It's just... hard to fool him. He probably sees right through you."

"Is that so?" Minseok asked lowly, thoughtfully even. "How did you end up at the store in the first place? You mentioned growing up at the library, didn't you?"

_ And the orphanage_, but he graciously left that part out. Luhan hadn't gone too deep into it, anyway.

Store windows flew by, scents and voices weighing down on him like a comfortable, fuzzy blanket, and Luhan felt the odd urge to link hands with Minseok. It was probably the nostalgia that came with thinking of the tea store.

"I think I was, what, thirteen? Fourteen? I'd been pretty new to the library, just settling in and still looking for jobs," he began, holding on to the strap of his bag as he kept his eyes on the ground to avoid tripping.

"It was actually a pretty miserable day and I'd been on my way home after helping out at a restaurant when it started to rain. The rain was really strong so I sought shelter in front of a store, and that's when Yixing came out. He was kinda frazzled and hasty because some family had fallen sick and requested for him, and instead of closing his store for the time being, he just turned to me and asked me whether I could keep an eye on it."

Even now, the memory was crystal clear in his head. The way the rain had beaten down on everything, creating a loud, constant white noise threatening to drown Yixing's voice.

"I must have looked like your typical street rat and yet he gave me the keys to his store and kindly asked me to wait for him to return," Luhan said, looking at Minseok with a shadow of the disbelief he'd felt back then. "Just like that. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?"

"And you accepted," Minseok only stated, the faintest hint of a smile dancing in his eyes.

Luhan shrugged.

"I was honestly too taken aback to even decline and before I knew it, Yixing had run off," Luhan chuckled, finally deciding to link hands with Minseok, after all. The other didn't hesitate, intertwining their hands in an easy, natural manner, which was oddly flustering.

"I was standing inside this expensive-looking store, completely at a loss as to what even happened. Of course that's somewhat of a temptation, and I _ did _think about just taking whatever and leaving. I'm not a liar and I was in a really bad position back then."

"But you have painfully high morals," Minseok supplied, almost teasing and without a doubt. Luhan acted offended.

"You make it sound really bad. Unlike-" he began, caught himself just in time and changed directions, "-you, I don't think aspiring to be a good person is a waste of time."

Minseok squeezed his fingers for a split second, acknowledging the fact that Luhan had almost mentioned witches. Carelessness wasn't something Luhan would usually see himself guilty of, but only ever talking to Minseok within private vicinities like his home made it easy to slip up.

"So you just watched over the store like he told you to?" Minseok asked calmly. "Like a good kid?"

"I just did what felt right," Luhan defended himself. "As if you would have had the heart to betray someone like Yixing."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Minseok mused lightly. "I wasn't nearly as good of a kid as you were - as you still are, really."

"Can you not call me a kid?" Luhan asked, trying to tug his hand free in a purposeful display of childishness, but Minseok simply held on to him.

"But even if I'd tried, your boss would have caught me, anyway, I'm pretty sure about that - he does have an eye for people, it seems," Minseok added, and they rounded a corner to cross a small market that was still buzzing with life even shortly before sundawn. Luhan felt the noise, the buzzing, saw the movements of countless bodies squeezing past each other, and smelled the air growing salty and prickly.

He really hated crowds and this one was even worse than the ones gathering on the wide, open square.

"What- what makes you think that?" he asked airily, discreetly slipping his hand out of Minseok's, who let him go with a brief, confused look.

"Are you alright?" he asked, but Luhan just nodded, swallowing hard.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Crowds just give me a headache after a while. You weren't planning on shopping here, were you?"

Minseok nodded in understanding.

"I see. Let's just walk around it, easy as that. We don’t have to cross it."

With that, he slipped to the sidelines and into a narrow alleyway. Luhan gladly followed him and with the noise slowly dying down, he allowed the cool, shadowy alley to calm his nerves.

"Sorry. I'm a huge wuss," Luhan sighed in defeat.

"Plenty of people don't like crowded places," Minseok dismissed him. "If anything, your instincts are more natural than theirs."

Luhan chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"Oh no, I'm also terrified of heights, caves, open fire, drowning - whichever fear you can think of, I'll probably have it."

"You're apparently not scared of being cursed," Minseok quipped with a meaningful side glance.

Luhan's eyes widened until he saw Minseok's eyes roam the alleyway that was plastered in spells, scraps of paper and paint clinging to the stone walls like mould slowly taking over.

"Oh," he then muttered. "I mean, I guess not? I've never touched anything marked by a witch and never offended one, as far as I know, so I don't think they'd have a reason to come for me."

It was a neutral enough sentence and the truth.

"I've been even less worried since I moved in with you," he added. Vague enough, and also true.

"Oh? What a strange coincidence," Minseok mused, reaching out himself, to link their fingers again, when he suddenly froze.

Luhan came to a halt one step later, shooting him a worried look.

"Minseok?"

The other only blinked, subtly looking around like he was trying to figure something out. Mild confusion paled into something else, and his hand landed on Luhan's forearm instead, applying barely there pressure.

"We're making a detour," he said evenly, but it only added to the spark of fear Luhan felt. Instinctively, he looked around, but they were alone. Nothing but dirt and shadows nesting in every corner.

Minseok walked ahead with calm, measured steps, squeezing past two walls to enter another, equally shabby alley and came to a halt, one hand lifted to keep the other from walking ahead. Luhan stayed pressed to a wall, looking at dirty stones, spells, and symbols. The air felt strangely grainy and the colorful sky above them seemed eternally far away.

Minseok's fingers ran over a shabby-looking piece of paper displaying an eye. It was colored green, but upon his touch, the ink seemed to light up, and more green lights began to glow in the distance, towards the end of the alley.

He recognized the symbol from the restaurant - the colored out eye and ears.

"It's a demon," Minseok explained as soon as the symbols had lit up.

"Where?" Luhan asked warily. In response, Minseok only nodded towards one of the walls.

"See the runes? They're black. That means a demon is feeding off the magic resting in them. Witches don't ever use black for spells for this purpose alone."

Upon closer inspection, he was right - many of the symbols were black, with some still in a state in between.

"Well, except for one witch," Minseok muttered, more to himself than anything, as he walked up to a black rune in his reach, "and I doubt he walked around plastering public alleys in spells."

The rest of his sentence came out a little more forceful as he touched a black rune. He seemed to press against it, and the muted prickling sensation in the air intensified, giving Luhan unpleasant goosebumps before the tension snapped, bleeding out. Into what, he wasn't quite sure, but it felt odd and wrong. The seal turned a deep blue again and the air seemed to flicker.

Minseok was looking around, feeling for something in his pocket.

Luhan was starting to feel sick and steadied himself with a hand on the cold, scratchy brick wall. His senses felt weird and tilted, but he didn't know whether it _ came _from the feeling of nausea or caused it.

He forced his eyes to stay open though, watching the way Minseok moved his palm in something akin to a half circle, followed by a sudden, curt movement.

All of a sudden, the alleyway wasn't so empty anymore.

A dark mass was hanging in the air, larger than any animal Luhan had seen in his entire life, with a shape that seemed closer to a monstrous bug than a sentient being. It kept moving without actually hovering, simply hanging in the air like a blob of oil lying on a water surface, ever moving but never relying on gravity.

It was, quite frankly, terrifying.

Minseok took a step towards it, and the black mass kept moving, folding in on itself, turning parts inside out, and the longer Luhan looked at it, the more disgusted he was.

He saw the dagger glint in Minseok's hand, but when the thing started moving all of a sudden with shocking speed, he let go of it in favour of slapping his hand on a rune. It caught fire immediately, keeping the demon from slipping past him and towards Luhan. Instead, the thing bounced off into the only other direction - away from them.

He heard Minseok curse, and then he saw another rune light up in the distance and above them, another dot of red. In a flowing movement, Mnseok grabbed the dagger from the ground and threw it right into the demon.

Luhan felt the following shriek in his bones, felt the air change and his stomach churn-

And then the dagger fell to the ground with a resounding clank and everything was over. Gone without a trace, having vanished as quickly as it had started.

Luhan drew in a careful breath, deep and measured so as not to vomit.

When he opened his eyes again, Minseok was by his side again, eyes on the dagger he was turning around in his hands. It was the pretty dagger the blacksmith witch had made him. The runes along the metal were of a deep black now, just like two of the big stones decorating the handle.

Minseok huffed.

"Almost broke. Chanyeol's gonna hear about this," he muttered, before sheathing the weapon.

"Is it in there now?" Luhan asked, still careful with every delivered word. Minseok shook his head, smoothing over a slightly spotty rune which turned a deep blue again.

"It's gone. This is just dirt. Blood, if you will."

Luhan didn't, but at least his stomach had calmed down enough to process this information.

Minseok looked at the spot where the rune had burnt to leave a blank in the ocean of paper and sighed.

"Let's go home for today," he concluded, tugging a necklace over his head and putting around Luhan's without preamble. A heavy stone was dangling from it, with two triangles carved into it. They looked like the ear symbols, but they were neither blank nor filled, with a curvy line crossing them.  
“What about my markings?” Luhan asked, slipping the pendant into his robes.

"Another time. I don’t want to encounter anything else right now,” Minseok replied curtly, already walking down the alley the way they’d entered. “Come. We won't be alone much longer."

"Why, because the authorities heard us, after all?"

"Because the nuisance who attached the runes will know they're gone," Minseok explained, entering a bigger street with brisk steps. "And I don't feel like seeing his face right now."

He was talking freely even among people. Luhan silently assumed it to be safe to talk, thanks to the necklace. Any other day, he would have been more careful, but he could feel the shock echoing through his bones still.

"They weren't yours?"

Minseok shot him a mildly unimpressed glance.

"You think I got time to run around and plaster every street in spells? No, they're done by someone who does nothing _ but _that. I avoid using them, but I didn't want to risk anything today."

_ Because you were with me. _

He didn't say it, but Luhan knew, anyway, and tried to decide on whether he should feel guilty or not.

"I thought witches only work for themselves?" he asked, because the brain was flighty and good at distracting itself in moments like these. "What does he gain from protecting everyone?"

"Whatever he wants," Minseok snorted. "Let's just say that if that sleazy rat shows up on your doorstep with a favour, you're obligated to grant it."

"And he did he ask one from you before?"

"Rarely. I'm not the type you go to for favours," Minseok hummed, and when Luhan tumbled over a loose cobblestone, he grabbed his arm to steady him. After a short, thoughtful look, his hand slipped into Luhan's, squeezing briefly.

"Are you alright?" he asked a while later, eyes trained on the road ahead.

Luhan shrugged.

"Sure. Are they always this big?"

"This one was larger than average."

"Are you saying this to comfort me?" Luhan whined, following him into another narrow street and into the now familiar, abandoned house leading to Minseok's home.

"My style of comfort would have been a bit too indecent for a public street," Minseok stated lightly, and Luhan smiled to himself, making an effort to keep it out of his voice.

"I'll take that as a sign of you not caring for me," he began as they entered Minseok's home but the rest of his joke got stuck in his throat.

There was a round, complex-looking symbol sticking to Minseok's door on eye level. It was symmetrical and a dark violet. Something about it was ominous, even considering Luhan's recent exposure to magic.

"Is that fromthe person who made the runes you used up?" Luhan asked, trying not to sound as concerned as he felt.

With a deep sigh, Minseok wiped the symbol off the door, rubbing his palm on his clothing.

"Not at all," he dismissed curtly, and he'd never seen Minseok this annoyed about anything.

Only a few steps into the apartment revealed that the symbol was now sitting on Minseok's desk.

Minseok groaned.

"I got it, get lost," he grumbled, wiping that one off, as well.

"What is it?" Luhan asked cluelessly, and then helpfully added, "It's back to the door now."

Minseok all but glared at the door.

"_I said I got it_."

The symbol seemed to dissolve under his glare, and Minseok sighed once more, exasperation turning into a thoughtful expression, and then he seemed to make a decision, all within mere seconds.

"You know what? We'll do it this way. He'll be there and I gotta go, anyway, if I want his help. You're coming with me tomorrow."

Luhan blinked, feeling utterly lost.

"Where to?"

Minseok was staring at the door as if he could still see the symbol, and then back at Luhan.

"The Walpurgis."


	7. The Walpurgis

"I have two questions."

Minseok didn't even look up from where he was clasping a golden bracelet around Luhan's wrist, letting out a tiny snort.

"At all times, maybe. You never run out of them, do you?"

"Three," Luhan corrected himself, and Minseok sighed.

He plucked another shimmering golden chain out of his jewelry box. Luhan wordlessly bared his neck.

"I thought witches weren't organized."

"That's not a question," Minseok commented almost absently, tugging the exotic-looking necklace into place. "Are your ears pierced more than once?"

"Nope," Luhan replied without missing a beat or being deterred. "This walpurgis thing sounds pretty official though. Someone has to organize it, right?"

"That doesn't make witches as a whole organized," Minseok disagreed, his tone low with how close he was, clasping a chain to Luhan's ear. "Junmyeon just likes to lead things and most of us humor him because there's no reason not to."

"I don't get it," Luhan admitted, and Minseok shrugged.

"Think of it as occasional meetups that someone feels like leading."

"Okay, but then that leads to my second question."

Minseok wordlessly gestured for him to turn around, so he did.

"Who pays you?" Luhan asked, crossing his arms.

"For what?"

"Killing those demons. Or eating them. Wait, why did you just stab the one yesterday but ate the others?"

"Is that the third question?" Minseok only asked, sounding exasperated, but the way he fumbled something into Luhan's hair was gentle.

"No, ignore that one. I was just wondering who'd pay you," Luhan hurried to course correct, because while Minseok was usually open to answering a few questions at a time, he didn't want to waste the opportunity on the _ wrong _ ones. "Because if witches aren't organized and demons are no threat to them and you're not just magically creating money, which I doubt... someone _ has _to pay you, right?"

"You're really... getting nosier by the day," Minseok said slowly, tentatively almost, but it didn't sound like he was annoyed. Was he mildly impressed or was that his imagination? If only Luhan could turn around and confirm.

"Who do you think is paying me?"

Luhan waited until Minseok had fixed whatever he had woven into his hair to carefully turn around, feeling the earrings dangle with the movement.

"It has to be humans, but..." he began, trailing off with a suspicious look. Minseok only shot him a mock-curious look.

"Oh? What kind of human would possibly pay a witch?" he asked.

It took him a second, but then Luhan's eyes widened in understanding.

"You're kidding. It's not really the government, is it?"

There was a tiny grin flashing over Minseok's face, small and dangerous, reminiscent of the witch he'd seen on the execution platform, but it was gone as fast as it had come, mellowed out into a gentle smile as he retrieved a little make-up palette. Luhan wasn't sure which expression was more intimidating on him.

"It's in their interest to decimate demons and they don't have a pet witch capable of doing it," he hummed.

Somehow, he'd already suspected it, but hearing it said out loud was still somewhat scandalous.

"But- they _ hunt _you guys," Luhan exclaimed, drawing away when Minseok gestured for him to sit down.

"You think they'll inform every last soldier that they're secretly paying witches?" Minseok only asked with a vague shrug. "A witch losing to them would be a bad witch, anyway."

"But that's- cruel! And _ wrong_," Luhan uttered, shaking his head. Minseok's gaze softened.

"It is," he said calmly. "And effective. Now sit down."

Reluctantly, Luhan complied, allowing Minseok to smooth out his frown with a swipe of his thumb before getting to work. Luhan closed his eyes without hesitation, felt himself calm down as the brush danced over his skin in short, precise strokes. His breathing evened out to the point that he could hear Minseok's, could hear the subtle way he held his breath before a difficult stroke.

"You're just adorable," he mumbled at some point, and Luhan couldn't keep the annoyed scowl off his face.

"Not like that," he heard Minseok correct himself, and Luhan forced himself to shut up and not mess with the other's work.

"You're just so..."

"So?" Luhan asked slowly, feeling an odd hint of anticipation.

Like this, Minseok's scent was more prevalent than usual, and it was slightly dizzying.

For the longest time, Minseok didn't answer as he applied makeup to the corner of his eyes, spreading it methodically.

"Good."

Luhan opened his eyes blinking against the light, but immediately closed them again when Minseok applied a cream to his face.

"You're just really _ good_," Minseok mused, and it came out quiet, intimate almost.

It was definitely not fair how easy it was for Minseok to control the atmosphere, to go from light-hearted banter to vulnerable, quiet confessions. In a way, this was knotting up his insides more than the teasing lilts or lithe fingers sneaking beneath his robes.

"Alright. Open your eyes."

Feeling strangely dazed and mellow, Luhan complied, watching Minseok uncap a small tub of peach-colored cream.

With the same air of nonchalance, he scooped up some cream to dab it on Luhan's lips, looking composed and focused.

"What happened to the third question?" he asked, and Luhan smacked his lips, shooting him a slightly judgemental look for changing the atmosphere yet again, but following along, anyway.

"Well," he began matter-of-factly, "I was gonna ask whether you're dolling me up like this to make me look like your concubine or whether I'm simply not presentable enough for this witch meeting."

Minseok had the gall to let out a short, breathy laugh.

"What? Don't be silly," he hummed, stashing the makeup away.

"I can't think of any other reason for you to dress me up like this," he insisted, crossing his arms as he turned towards the mirror hanging on the opposite side of the room. From afar, the makeup looked subtle enough, except for the glitter around his eyes. It worked nicely with the lavish garments he was wearing - with Minseok mostly dressing in military-like style pants and dress shirts, he wouldn't have expected him to own anything even remotely traditional, but here he was, wearing a flowy wrap-around top with golden clasps and a pair of pants that were so intricately cut they almost looked like a long skirt, all in a matching cream color.

"Not presentable enough," Minseok muttered, fixing his own hair in a small mirror before clipping a plethora of silver accessories to his ear with quick, routine movements.

"Technically, humans aren't allowed at the Walpurgis."

Luhan shot him a questioning look, but Minseok was busy applying a liquid, black liner to his eyes.

"I'll put a charm on you and you'll be fine as long as you don't speak," he began, shooting him a quick, stern look while he dipped his brush into the liquid, "for real this time. Don't let anyone provoke you."

"Then don't let them call me a concubine," Luhan stated petulantly, remembering the blacksmith's lewd gaze all-too well.

"Let them talk, they're just thirsty for gossip," Minseok dismissed him, and before Luhan could throw in that being called a whore went three steps too far, he added, "also, it's quite the opposite. It's not that you look bad, it's that you look _ so _nice that a few golden chains and stones are enough to make you look like you're not even human in the first place."

"Excuse me?" Luhan asked doubtfully, downplaying how flustered he felt over the compliment.

"Just wait and see. None of them will even suspect you to be human in the first place," Minseok hummed easily, topping off his dramatic look by dabbing a dark shade of red to the inside of his lips.

"That aside," he concluded, quickly stretching himself, "maybe I do wanna show you off. But not for my sake."

_ What a very strange statement_, Luhan thought as he patiently waited for Minseok to tie his boots and throw on his fancy jacket. Only Minseok would express himself in a way roundabout enough to make even a compliment sound like a cryptic message.

Well, Luhan couldn't say he minded. Not when decrypting them was getting easier with every passing day.

* * *

People were staring at them but Minseok didn't seem to mind, exuding an aura of unbothered wealth and status. Luhan was trying to follow his lead, but his demeanor definitely lacked finesse. He wasn't humble enough to deny people shooting him the occasional look if work hadn't left him like a sleepless, scruffy mess, but this was on an entirely different level.

"I do look like your concubine, don't I?" he murmured as they walked past closing stores and flourishing restaurants.

"Or maybe I look like your bodyguard," Minseok countered lightly. Luhan decided that he didn't have the mental capacity for fun banter at that moment and instead absently felt for the pendant resting on his chest, hidden beneath the distracting garment. Minseok's explanation had been vague at best, but apparently, the pendant exuded a very subtle form of magic, making it near impossible for someone to tell whether he was a witch or not. He really hoped the little red stone wouldn't let him down.

They rounded a corner, swiftly turning left to enter yet another street shrouded in spells. Luhan had never really noticed it before, but it seemed like witches had claimed a lot of the city's streets as theirs, and in turn, they were almost always deserted. Only brave (or careless) souls would cross them, and they usually hurried along, never lingering.

This was also the case now. A single, frantic-looking woman bustled past them, obviously in a hurry to get somewhere, quickly leaving them alone in the alley. Minseok halted before a shabby-looking door blocking the meagre space between two houses. He fished the necklace out of his robes, the one he was always wearing. Ever since he'd given Luhan the little compass ring, there were only two others left - one silver, one gold. With quick, practiced ease, he tugged the fastening to the front to free the golden one and slip it on his ring finger. There was a green stone on it, small but polished and cut into an intricate shape. Luhan was about to ask about it when Minseok's other hand ended up on his lower arm.

"No more talking from now on, got it?" he asked with a side glance, and Luhan only shot him a _ look_, easily conveying that asking someone for a verbal confirmation was somewhat useless in this case.

Minseok squeezed his arm, looked fleetingly over his shoulder again, and opened the door, gently steering Luhan inside the alley behind it. The moment he crossed the doorstep, Luhan felt magic prickle in the air, only to die down into a pleasant hum resting somewhere in his stomach. This new alley was still narrow, just barely allowing two people to walk beside each other, but that was where the similarities ended. This street wasn't so dirty anymore, and there wasn't a single spell taped to the walls. The stones were slightly brighter and looking up revealed a ceiling made of colorful veils. Again, everything was pleasantly lit despite there being no light sources in sight. Even the temperature was somewhat unnatural, with the air sitting perfectly still, lacking the stuffiness he would have expected. Luhan couldn't help craning his head back, but the gradient from this alley to the dark one they'd entered through was fluid and unnervingly unmagical. The fabric simply ended, followed by the light, and finally, the weeds and dirt were gathering in the corners close to the door.

Minseok linked their arms to subtly tug him along. Luhan was about to comment on it, but remembered to stay silent and subtly chewed on his lips instead - the sticky gloss reprimanded him instantly.

Luhan inhaled deeply. He had to pull himself together and not make Minseok look bad. There was nothing to fear, anyway - he was nothing more than Minseok's shadow and the other would watch over him. He seemed nonchalant, too, which eased his nerves a little.

The alley soon led into something reminiscent of a terrace, large enough to fit a small market on it. A fleeting look above told Luhan that they were in a hall, for there was a ceiling. He didn't even try to wrap his mind around the logistics of this place and instead followed Minseok, who made his way past the many round tables. There were a few people strewn around them, looking ordinary enough at first glance. Luhan didn't linger on them, keeping his head held high to follow Minseok's lead.

They stepped up on what turned out to be a small plateau, a mere step above the ground, and there, the tables were made of a snowy white stone, with colored symbols etched into them. Everything passed by in a blur as Minseok purposefully walked towards a table on the far left end of the hall, right before another elevated platform that reminded Luhan of a stage.

Like the other tables, there were four chairs assembled around it, but only two symbols carved into the stone. Both were complex-looking but one of them was pitch black - a color which Luhan had learnt wasn't usually used among witches. He was itching to ask about it. The moment Minseok had taken a seat, the violet symbol before him disappeared. Luhan didn't need to be told to take one of the blank spots on the table, sinking into the chair next to him, subtly touching the other's arm to gesture towards the black, ominous-looking symbol.

"It's alright, it's supposed to be black," Minseok murmured, quietly enough for no one to overhear. "He's not gonna show up though. He usually doesn't."

Luhan nodded, trying not to gawk too obviously as he looked around the hall. From where he was sitting, he could only catch a glimpse at the elevated platform they were on. The few people already present definitely looked more striking than the ones around the wooden tables. Even after seeing so many witches in one place, however, it was impossible to tell what made one. He saw Chanyeol, the blacksmith, on the table right next to theirs. He looked like a mechanic even now, barely dressed up at all. Next to him sat a man with dirty blonde hair, clad in leather. There were some others nearby, as well, with some of them dressed like upperclass royals or scholars while others were subdued in appearance, but made up for it in aura. Generally speaking, the hall felt peaceful, but some of the people he saw had piercing stares or simply looked like they were used to being catered to. The best example for that would be the single person sitting on the stage-like platform. To the side and pushed rather far into the back sat a young man dressed into an oversized, white shirt, standing out for its utter lack of opulence among the higher witches, as Luhan internally dubbed them. He was slumped into a chair, legs crossed and hands resting on the chair's arm rests. Considering his position, Luhan would have taken him for the leader initiating this entire meeting, but everything from his posture to the way his gaze rested on the hall was dripping with boredom. Maybe he wasn't all that important, after all? Suddenly, and with unflinching purpose, the other met his eyes-

"Minseok, you came! What a surprise."

Luhan flinched ever so slightly. The blond man from the nearby table had apparently noticed Minseok's arrival at last, and was now awkwardly twisted in his chair to shoot them a mischievous look which quickly traveled to Luhan and grew into a wolfish kind of interest.

"And who do we have here?"

Now that he'd turned around, Luhan had to take back his initial judgement - with the youthful face and heavy makeup, the other looked less like a thug and more like an escort, albeit an expensive one. Suddenly, Luhan didn't feel all that overdressed anymore.

"None of your business," Minseok only cut him off, sounding almost as bored as the man on top of the stage had looked. Thinking of him... Luhan glanced up to see that the other's focus had shifted already.

"Did you take on a student, after all? Gruffy, grumpy Minseok taking on a student?" the blonde teased, leaning over even further with a look so smug that Luhan wished he'd topple over.

"I wonder what he might have done to convince you," he murmured lowly, smile growing lewd. "Does he suck well?"

To be fair, even if Luhan _ was _allowed to speak, he would have probably been out of words now.

Minseok remained unfazed.

"Shut it, Baekhyun. Nobody asked."

"He's not his student," Chanyeol piped up helpfully, finding the exchange somewhat amusing. Now the other looked positively intrigued, actually turning his chair sideways to get a better look at Luhan, who only looked back defiantly, trying to look at least half as haughty as Minseok.

"No? Then what is he?" the other purred, tilting his head as he looked Luhan up and down before coming to a conclusion.

"A siren? I didn't take you for the pet kind of guy."

He kept staring at Luhan as he spoke, clearly waiting for him to break, but Luhan refused to give in, staying blissfully silent.

"Mute, too. How nice of you to take on such a sad little thing. Though I bet you get your rewards for it on the daily," Baekhyun singsonged, and there was a mean, malicious edge to it. "Must be nice if there are no complaints-"

"Are you done?" Minseok asked, a sharp edge to his own voice now. Sensing the change in atmosphere, Luhan subtly slipped his hand over to rest on the side of Minseok's thigh. To his surprise, the other's hand joined his without hesitation, squeezing his fingers almost gently while his gaze remained sharp.

"Are you lending him out?"

Luhan glared daggers at the other, very much tempted to get to his feet and dump his water over his head in place of a verbal answer, when a tall person stepped in between the tables, nonchalantly blocking Baekhyun's view.

"Minseok. Long time no see."

It was one of the royal-looking witches from across the hall, dressed in long, traditional garments. Minseok didn't smile, but his gaze softened noticeably.

"Yifan."

Yifan? He'd already seemed somewhat familiar, and so did the name...

When Luhan figured it out, it was hard to keep his expression blank.

A politician. The tall, imposing-looking guy with the deep voice and calm behaviour was one of the board members ruling the capital.

The more time he spent with Minseok, the more he realized how he'd been living a lie.

Were the other rulers in on it?

"You're not alone today."

Baekhyun started complaining, but the moment Yifan's hands touched their table, he was muted.

"I'm not," Minseok said, sounding strangely apprehensive. Luhan had never seen Minseok act like this, and he couldn't put his finger on what exactly was off about it.

"Is that a bad thing?"

This time, when Luhan squeezed his thigh, Minseok actually pushed him away. It hurt a bit, but Luhan was too distracted trying to understand what was going on, why the witch on the podium was glaring at them from afar, and then Yifan was looking down at him, too.

"Luhan, isn't it?" he asked, and a tick of insecurity flitted over Luhan's face, but ultimately, there was no point in lying, so he nodded lightly.

"Why do you know him?" Minseok asked surprisingly urgently, but Yifan didn't pay him any heed.

"Did you two kiss?"

Taken aback, Luhan couldn't do anything but stare at the other.

_ 'Excuse me?' _he would have liked to ask. Unsure of what was even going on, he glanced at Minseok, expecting to see his own emotions mirrored, but Minseok was avoiding his eyes.

The question was a bit too personal for his taste so Luhan didn't answer this time.

"Would you advise us to?" Minseok asked, sounding almost bitter, and Yifan's expression softened.

"I don't give out free advice," he said evenly.

"Except when you do," Minseok disagreed, and suddenly, Luhan felt like he was watching himself argue with the mysterious witch that refused to budge.

"You paid a price back then," Yifan replied without missing a beat, lifting his palm off the table. The voices of the people around them returned in a rush, and Yifan gave them a curt nod, lingering on Minseok for just a moment.

"Stay healthy. I'm always on your side."

With that, he left for his own table, leaving Luhan to stare after him. What a peculiar statement. It had been oddly intimate, too.

Luhan kept looking at Minseok until the other caved.

"I've known him for a long time," he explained, turning one of the clean glasses around to fill them with water. "Ever since I underwent my training. When we were young and dumb."

Luhan accepted the offered glass with a grateful nod, but wasn't deterred, attentive gaze resting on Minseok, prompting him to tell more.

The other sighed; a small, tiny sound that was loaded with complex emotions.

"He's the city's only seer."

Luhan made a mental note to ask him about these things later. He tapped Minseok's thigh and then glanced towards the podium, where the bored witch had returned to pretending they didn't exist. Minseok barely glanced at him.

"Don't mind him," he hummed evasively, but Luhan kept tapping, lightly pinching his thigh until Minseok covered his hand again, squeezing it to keep him still.

"He's sitting up there because he's the capital's patron."

Luhan tilted his head in question.

"His magic is pretty... raw," Minseok trailed off, taking a sip of his water as he considered his choice of words. "It's kinda vicious and permeating the air at all times, which is why he's the capital's current patron. Every city has one, from large ones to tiny villages. There's always someone who keeps an eye on the town, and who acts like a main defense from threats coming from outside."

It was interesting, how conflicted Minseok sounded. Even now he didn't spare the other a glance, swirling the water around his glass instead.

"It's not like he gives a shit most of the time, but he's powerful and has an overview over the city at all times. It's a bit complicated."

Luhan nodded, because he very much agreed on that and asking precise questions without using words was hard.

He glanced back up at the podium, eyeing the man idly tapping the arm rest.

Minseok hadn't mentioned the other's name, but there was no need for that - Luhan remembered it. Jongdae.

So this bored-looking guy was Jongdae, who apparently shared some sort of special relationship with Minseok. Jongdae, who looked ordinary but strangely lethal at the same time. Jongdae, who'd kept glaring at them earlier.

Luhan would have loved to simply sit there in silence for another hour, contently observing Jongdae and the other witches to try and figure out their social structure and hierarchy. As far as he could tell, Minseok wasn't low on the ladder - if there even was a ladder - but there was no telling what exactly his place in this group was.

There was a lot to take in, a lot to think about, but those thoughts came to a halt when someone stepped past Jongdae and towards the center of the stage, clapping his hands with a wide, friendly smile.

"Good evening. I'm glad so many of us could make it. I'm not intending to waste too much of your time, so let's get this started right away."


	8. Replacement

Pleasant.

Everything about Junmyeon was pleasant, from his ironed clothes to his perfectly styled hair and his mild-mannered smile.

Luhan was somewhat fascinated by the fact that he, of all the witches here, would be some sort of a leader to them. Organizer, he corrected himself. Minseok had been adamant about witches not having a leader, and judging by the witches he'd come in contact with so far, Luhan easily believed him; all of them seemed to have big, dominant personalities.

So far, the meeting wasn’t any different from their annual library conference, where every staff member was invited to get updated by the higher ups. Junmyeon had talked about the recent perception of witches, how many had been caught in the act (quite a few) and how many had been prosecuted (none), kindly asking them to watch their backs. He briefly mentioned two witches switching to serve the government instead, which was taken by the audience with scoffs and silent sneers.

Most of the upper witches seemed bored at this point, with no one showcasing it harder than Jongdae, who actually yawned loud enough to garner a brief, judging look by Junmyeon. Luhan was obviously not bored at all - in fact, he was nervous about possibly being called out, being a new face. Junmyeon had glanced at him earlier, but aside from a surprised look, he hadn’t said anything and continued his speech.

“Now that we have this out of the way, there’s a reason why I requested this gathering.”

The way the invitation had kept bugging Minseok seemed like a pretty pushy request in Luhan’s books, but it was clearly not his place to judge.

“Some of you might have noticed that we have an increase in demons and spirits recently.”

People were exchanging glances, and Luhan could see lips moving, but the ever-present murmur of a wary crowd was kept in by magic, creating an ominous silence.

Junmyeon gave them five seconds to word whatever comment had been resting on their tongues.

“They’ve been larger and more vicious than what we’ve been used to. I think Minseok can confirm this.”

Everyone was looking at them and Luhan could feel his body go rigid under the attention.

“I can,” Minseok said calmly. “They’re different.”

Minseok’s posture didn’t change but his expression grew a little sharper. Admitting to them being more dangerous seemed to naturally call for Minseok to look like this wasn’t an issue for him at all. Like it wasn’t too much work, like he hadn’t been lying in bed with a fever not too long ago.

Junmyeon shot him a thin smile before addressing the crowd again.

“I don’t know what might have caused this, and I don’t think any of you know more than I do?”

Another five seconds of vague shrugs, knitted brows and exchanged glances. The boredom was fading from their faces, though.

“Thought so. We’re suspecting political reasons,” Junmyeon began, shifting his weight to get more comfortable, “According to Jongdae, they’re not forming here - it might be a deliberate action, like someone from outside the town planting them here on purpose. Yifan is already on it and, with the support of Sehun and Zitao, we should get to the root of this very soon.”

Everyone seemed to know these names, but Luhan was still hung up on the fact that someone would plant demons on purpose. This kind of political warfare was somewhat logical, yet terrifying - especially if the government wasn’t ready to fight them off. If these witches were somewhat wary, he could only imagine the fear growing within the government.

Junmyeon raised his voice a little despite the hall staying magically silent - he must be seeing the growing wariness on people’s faces.

“We don’t know if they’ll pose an actual danger to us - unfortunately, Kyungsoo didn’t attend. Since you’re close, could you maybe get in contact with him about this?”

The last question was aimed at Minseok again, whose eyes flitted to the pitch black symbol on the table before nodding.

Junmyeon clapped his hands once.

“Good. Let’s stay alert and remember that there’s no shame in using your ring should you encounter something unexpected or dangerous. Whatever is going on has not been planned by one person, either, so there’s no reason why we should face it alone. Baekhyun, I’m counting on you to keep our streets safe.”

Luhan saw him throwing a vague salute towards the podium, receiving a thin smile in return. Apparently, this had been the last point on the agenda and with a single wave of Junmyeon’s hand, the hall was suddenly filled with noise as the magic was lifted.

“And that’s it for today” he half-yelled over the noise. “Anyone have anything to say? Good. Have a nice evening, everyone.”

Chairs scraped over the ground as more than half of the people got to their feet immediately. Most of the higher witches stayed seated, chatting among themselves, some more seriously than others.

Next to him, Minseok remained seated as well.

“Let them leave,” he instructed calmly. “I wanna talk to Junmyeon.”

Luhan nodded. As of now, Junmyeon was standing by one of the tables, conversing with Yifan and two other intimidating-looking witches.

Luhan watched them for a bit, mentally zoning out. This meeting had been like every other aspect of witchcraft he’d witnessed so far - deceivingly ordinary for most of the time. He still had a dozen questions lingering on his tongue, yearning to find their way out, even if they’d go unanswered. What meant ‘using the ring’? Was Baekhyun, the vulgar guy in the leather jacket, really the one responsible for covering the streets in spells? Who were Sehun and Zitao, and who was Kyungsoo? Apparently, Minseok was close to him, but Luhan had never heard him say this name before. What on earth had Yifan been talking about, and, last but not least, what was the relationship between Minseok and Jongdae?

He let his gaze wander back to the highest plateau, slow and subtle, only to see the chair empty-

“I see you finally replaced me, huh?”

Luhan flinched while Minseok didn’t even bother turning around.

Undeterred, Jongdae walked around the table to casually place a hand on it, hovering over them.

“Took you long enough.”

His voice was smooth, stronger than Minseok’s, and laced with a more vivid temperament that was reflected in his eyes as well.

“I did not _ replace _you,” Minseok only said, calm and refusing to take the bait.

“Sure,” Jongdae said, voice dripping with sarcasm as he eyed Luhan, who suddenly felt really ridiculous in his pretty costume. Jongdae only huffed under his breath, the sound more condescending than and comment might have been, and Luhan felt the heat sneak up his cheeks.

Then he looked back at Minseok, acting like Luhan wasn’t even there.

“So, did Yifan give his blessings?”

“What’s it to you?” Minseok only asked back without his usual sharpness. If Luhan didn’t know any better, he’d say Minseok sounded slightly downcast.

“Nothing,” Jongdae shrugged. “But I know you don’t like to think for yourself, so…”

“Are you done insulting me?” Minseok only asked, and something flared up in Jongdae’s expression, an annoyed tick sparking dry wood.

“You’re insulting yourself, at most,” he hissed, throwing a glance at Luhan, “going for low-hanging fruit because you think you think you’re not capable of doing any better-”

“And you would have been better?” Minseok cut him off, still no will to fight in his voice or posture - he just looked resigned. “You know that how exactly? Jongdae, what do you want from me? Would you actually want me to change my mind _ now _?”

Jongdae looked furious still, his hand balled into a fist on the table, but he didn’t have an answer to that.

“Jongdae? I need you for a bit,” Junmyeon called over to them, and Jongdae subtly rolled his eyes.

“Have fun with your pretty boy toy,” he spat, turning to leave. Minseok raised his voice just enough to call after him.

“When will you replace _ me_, Jongdae?” he asked, only for Jongdae to flip him off without looking.

“No fucking need, thanks for asking.”

Next to him, Minseok sighed and Luhan kept his eyes on the table, feeling mostly awkward. So Jongdae _ was _his ex-lover.

Having heard the last exclamation, Baekhyun added his own two cents from the neighbouring table but Minseok tuned him out like Yifan had done earlier.

For a moment, it was rather silent, with the muted sounds of people chatting and getting ready to leave.

“Don’t mind him,” Minseok said eventually, sounding tired. “He was actively trying to be shitty, so don’t give him the time of your day.”

Luhan nodded. Sure, he’d be a liar to say he wasn’t hurt by the other’s words at all, and next to Jongdae, he was probably a _ really _ ‘low-hanging fruit’, but it was true that the other had been trying to mess with them, and that staying unbothered would be the best follow up. Sadly.

Luhan wished he could talk again already - he was starting to connect the dots between Jongdae and Minseok and would like to get some verbal confirmation.

“Come, I think he’s done,” Minseok said quietly, ripping him out of his thoughts.

They got to their feet and approached Junmyeon, who was standing at the sidelines now, flipping through a small notebook and scribbling something on already filled pages.

“You got a moment?” was all Minseok asked, and Junmyeon immediately looked up, the notebook forgotten, the pleasant smile reappearing.

“Minseok. Sure. I was wondering what you were up to today,” he said, clearly eyeing Luhan. There was no contempt or lewdness to his stare - he was simply mildly interested.

He gestured them over towards a delicate-looking door, and they followed him into a small, clean-looking room. Like the hall, this room was made of light stone as well, with plants and colorful shawls adding a sense of liveliness and comfort to it. Closing the door completely cut off any noise, and Junmyeon didn’t wait a second before he started to talk.

“How are you holding up?”

Minseok only shrugged, taking a seat in one of the four, plush couches placed around a small table.

“I’m fine. Nothing I can’t handle.”

Luhan sank into the seat next to him, faintly wishing he could either talk or disappear altogether.

“I didn’t mention it earlier, but Yifan had a vision,” Junmyeon began as he sat down opposite to them.

“He saw something demon-like that was as big as a house, dripping into the alleyways from above, threatening to suffocate you.”

The mere image made Luhan feel uncomfortable, and Minseok, too, had put down most of his steely facade, allowing worry into his voice.

“And was I facing it alone? Did he see that, too?”

Junmyeon didn’t reply immediately, and Minseok sighed.

“Thought so.”

“He did see someone else with you,” Junmyeon insisted. “And judging by his description, it has to be you.”

Luhan couldn’t help grimacing. Great. He’d be right there, in the wrong place at the wrong time, potentially making things _ worse _for Minseok, instead of easier. 

Minseok must have thought something similar, because he groaned, to which Junmyeon reacted immediately.

“Minseok,” he began seriously, keeping eye contact with him, “Yifan’s visions might have never been wrong, but they don’t show everything. We don’t know what will lead up to it or what’s going to follow. You do _ not _have to do this alone.”

Minseok didn’t reply, looking strangely somber.

“By telling us about it, he gave us the option to change this future, too. Keep that in mind,” Junmyeon added, a little more gently. Luhan had never seen anyone talk to Minseok like this, and instead of closing off, Minseok simply exhaled, lips closed tightly, eyes flitting to the table for a second.

“I came here to ask a favour of you,” he said, changing the topic.

Junmyeon let him be, and nodded encouragingly.

“I’m assuming it has something to do with your company.”

“Yes. He’s human, and a demon latched on to him,” Minseok explained curtly. “The stains won’t leave, so I thought you might be able to take a look at him.”

Junmyeon nodded vaguely, thoughtful gaze trained on Luhan.

“Anything unusual you noticed?”

Minseok and Luhan both shook their head.

“Alright,” Junmyeon relented, slipping into the couch closer to Luhan, facing him.

“What’s your name?”

Immediately, Luhan looked at Minseok, who gave him a small nod.

“Luhan.”

Junmyeon’s expression scrunched up just a little as the concealing spell was lifted, and Luhan shifted awkwardly.

“I see. Where are the stains?”

Luhan rubbed away at the cream on his neck, and Junmyeon actually chuckled, reaching out to thumb over the skin.

“Moonfruit cream? Crafty as usual, Minseok.”

To Luhan, he said, “spells wouldn’t have worked in here.”

Luhan nodded. It was nice of him to explain it, nice of him to treat him like a normal person instead of the vermin he apparently was to witches.

“Can you extend your hand?”

Obediently, Luhan offered his right hand, feeling his pulse flutter under Junmyeon’s thumb gently pressing into his skin.

“He’s good with humans,” Minseok explained while Junmyeon closed his eyes, seemingly feeling for something. After a few seconds of silence, Junmyeon opened them again with a hum.

“Seems normal so far. My magic is rooted in blood though, so I’ll need at least a drop to work with.”

Luhan shrugged.

“Take it. As long as you don’t expect me to cut myself open…”

Junmyeon smiled, reaching into his jacket to retrieve a small box containing needles, all wrapped in cotton. He took one out, and Luhan dutifully looked away. He didn’t mind the prick, but watching a needle pierce your skin wasn’t all that pleasant either.

“And we’re done,” Junmyeon hummed. He handed Luhan a cotton pad to press his fingertip into, wiping the needle on his own pointer finger.

There was no way he could think of the little drop of blood saying anything about him, and when Junmyeon put the finger to his own lips, Luhan couldn’t help grimacing.

“It’s safe, don’t worry,” Minseok muttered, and Luhan hoped he was right. If he had some rare, infectious disease he hadn’t known of, he’d rather not find out by infecting the head organizer witch of the capital.

Junmyeon’s expression remained scrunched up as he was interpreting whatever Luhan’s blood was saying about him. Ultimately, he shook his head.

“Can’t say I’m feeling anything unusual. There’s definitely very weak remains of a demon inside him, but aside from that…”

Minseok sighed, while Luhan slumped in relief. He should probably be disappointed over the lack of an answer, but at least he wasn’t suffering from a deadly disease. Or, to be more precise, none a blood witch would detect. Whatever certainty that equaled.

“I’m sorry, Minseok.”

The way he said it made it sound genuine - Junmyeon sounded pretty genuine in general. It was terribly easy to trust him, and if Minseok didn’t seem to do just that, Luhan would be wary.

“Maybe you should ask Kyungsoo about it?”

Minseok nodded.

“Yeah, I was planning on doing that next. It’s alright, thanks for checking.”

Junmyeon shook Luhan’s hand as he sent them off, even going so far as to touch Minseok’s shoulder, reminding him to use the ring, should he ever need help.

“You too,” Minseok said surprisingly. “You don’t need to manage everything by yourself, either. Don’t forget that.”

The words echoed around Luhan’s mind as they returned to the alley, walking down the quiet, deserted street until they were back inside the town, flooded with darkness, scents and sounds that were somewhat dirty and yet comfortingly familiar.

He was both tired and strangely high-strung, buzzing with the new impressions and information this meeting had brought up.

Minseok was oddly quiet on the way home, too, leaving Luhan alone with his thoughts.

“In the end, he didn’t find anything,” Minseok sighed as he closed the door. It was the first time he’d spoken up ever since they left the Walpurgis. “Sorry for wasting your time.”

Luhan made a negating sound as he carefully took off his earrings, placing them on the kitchen table.

“No problem. It was interesting, after all. I was wondering though-”

“Of course you were,” Minseok groaned quietly, and exhaustion was shimmering through the playful expression.

“It’s not like that,” Luhan hurried to add, wordlessly holding out his right arm so Minseok could help him undo the bracelets, which he did. “No technical witch stuff.”

“Then what is it?” he hummed, unclasping the ones on his other wrist as well, without giving Luhan a chance to do it himself.

“Why did you take me along?”

The fingers around his wrist paused for two heartbeats.

“Because I knew Junmyeon would be there.”

“You also know where he lives though, don’t you?” Luhan asked, lowering his voice to accommodate to the close proximity they were in. “We could have just gone to see him another day like you’d planned before.”

“This was faster.”

When he reached up to retrieve the accessories pinned to his hair, Luhan drew away, shooting him a stubborn look. He wasn’t willing to play along this time.

“But was it worth exposing the entire magical community to me? Even if you were planning on taking my memory away at some point, why even bother?”

Minseok was wearing an unreadable gaze, and Luhan didn’t give him the chance to come up with another excuse.

“Why do you explain runes to me? Why do you take me to restaurants managed by witches? Why do you keep answering all my questions in the first place? You asked me why I’d bother being nice to you, and now I’m asking you - why bother taking me to the Walpurgis?”

The silence between them was thick, the mood suddenly tense and completely unlike them. Luhan was tired of playing along though, of silently trusting that Minseok knew what he was doing, because this was his life as well, and he wanted to _ understand_.

Minseok looked taken aback by his outburst, lightly shook his head, parting his lips… but nothing came out.

For the first time since he met him, Minseok seemed out of words.

“You can just tell me,” Luhan insisted trying to stay as calm as possible. “I’m not a child. Is it because you wanted to show off a human pet, after all? Just say so, I won’t be mad. I just want to understand-”

Without warning, he was pushed against the table, the edge digging painfully into his thigh as Minseok bracketed him in, suddenly very close.

“Maybe I just wanted to see you all dressed up,” he murmured, looking up at him. Minseok wasn’t that much shorter than him, actually, but now he was tilting his head, looking up at him with his voice lowering, and Luhan swallowed. Suddenly, there were hands on his sides, slipping beneath the fabric, not nearly as feathery or teasing as usual, with Minseok resorting to broad, firm touches instead.

“Is this how you’re going to avoid answering my question?” Luhan murmured, shivering when lips ran down his neck, warm as they dragged over his skin, leaving languid kisses in their wake, finally overstepping the invisible boundary they’d been toeing for weeks.

“How about you answer me a question for once,” Minseok hummed into his skin, fingers already running down the small of his back, going lower.

“Do you not want this?”

Luhan would have loved to roll his eyes, but it was hard to accomplish that when he was shivering in the other’s hold, itching to just_ let go_.

“Don’t think I’ll forget about it,” Luhan warned, but he already knew that he’d lost. Yes, he wanted this. Of course he did. And when Minseok wanted to give it to him now, for some reason… well, Luhan wasn’t going to decline.

So he flipped their position, some jewelry cluttering as it ended up on the floor.

“I’ll ask you again tomorrow,” he all but threatened, and Minseok shot him an almost wolfish grin.

“We’ll see about that.”

When Luhan leaned in for a kiss, however, Minseok’s hand ended up between them. In response to Luhan’s confused expression, he wordlessly tapped his own lips, making faint black stains appear around his lips.

With a slightly annoyed groan, Luhan dove in to suck a bruise into his neck instead, a knee pressed between the other’s legs. Minseok chuckled breathily, and it drifted off into a sigh before he pushed back again, quickly steering them to his bedroom.

They made it with a few interruptions consisting of them wrestling each other against the wall or trying to get the other’s clothes off first. It was like something between them snapping after weeks of teasing, and now neither of them wanted to hold back anymore.

Sleeping with Minseok was a little like Luhan had expected it to be after getting to know him, but the real thing was definitely better. He’d occasionally slept with people before, both men and women, but he knew that Minseok was going to be better than any of them even before he’d put a hand on him - because he was the first person willing to _ play_, to really wrestle and push against him with no clear preference shining through. Luhan had been with submissive or dominant people, but Minseok didn’t seem to give a damn about categories, simply taking him in, touching and kissing with vigour (but not on the lips), actually smiling when Luhan managed to push him onto his back.

_ It was funny_, Luhan thought as he drifted off to sleep much later.

Despite the way Minseok had groaned into his ear, despite the filthy things he’d done with his fingers and tongue, despite the way Minseok had painted him white, only to easily roll on his back, legs dangling off Luhan’s shoulders, offering himself up with a salacious grin… despite all that, it was that carefree, boyish smile that made Luhan feel too fluttery to fall asleep straight away.


	9. Green Glass

Minseok was proven correct - the next day, Luhan did not corner him, pressing for answers.

It wasn't like he'd forgotten about the entire affair, despite Minseok's fantastic attempt to literally fuck the questions out of him; there had simply not been a good opportunity.

That morning, Minseok had nonchalantly asked him whether he was feeling alright, and Luhan had nodded, waiting to see where Minseok was going to take this conversation. It turned out that he took it nowhere and simply went back to eating his breakfast. If he was feeling awkward about the previous night, he was impeccable at hiding it.

Luhan had silently packed his things and left for work, where he spent most of his time feeling like an idiot for being hurt. What was he even hurt by? The casual treatment?

To be fair, he had _ expected _casual treatment, but with the way their relationship had been so far, he'd assumed it to take a different form. Before, Minseok had been nothing but open, forward and playful - nothing like the neutral, calm behaviour he'd shown that morning, and Luhan couldn't help feeling a little insecure. Had Minseok simply lost interest in him now, sexually-speaking? Had the past night been a mistake? Was he simply trying to avoid having to answer his questions?

Luhan placed a brown glass bottle back to its designated place and sighed, staring at nothing in particular.

Even after spending a good chunk of the past few months with Minseok, he remained a mystery. Everything could be predictable and pleasant in one moment, and within the blink of an eye, Minseok was as untouchable and unpredictable as a stranger.

The bell announced a new customer and Luhan whipped around, a polite smile dying on his lips as his eyes fell on a familiar face - Baekhyun.

"Good day," he all but chirped, somehow managing to look smug when all he did was walk up to the counter. Instead of leather, he wore a simple, dark outfit made up of pockets and belts that had seen better days. Only his ears were reminiscent of the past day's glitz and glamour, decked out in silver accessories.

He also looked like the cat that got the cream, which caused Luhan to grimace.

"Hello," he said, sounding every bit as enthusiastic as he felt.

Baekhyun's expression lit up.

"Oh, so you _ can _talk. Cute."

Luhan had no idea what about him or his voice was supposed to be cute, but he was not in the mood to be toyed with, so he just sighed.

"What can I get you?" he asked, and it came out somewhat resigned and bored. The nosy witch across him shifted his weight on his feet, pretending to think about it.

"Hm, let's see... What's your best-selling tea?" he asked, voice and demeanour all but demanding Luhan to indulge him. Which was the exact reason why Luhan stayed stubborn.

"Medicinal or non-medicinal?" he simply asked, and Baekhyun placed both arms on the counter, looking like a child having a hard time staying still. He hummed some more, only to settle on a small shrug.

"Doesn't matter."

Luhan raised a brow, but wordlessly reached into one of the lower shelves to place a pre-made bag of one of their most popular fruity teas on the counter. He was spiteful enough to pick the most expensive one.

"Hibiscus-based with apple, peach, apricot, and watermelon, infuse for five minutes, enjoy hot or cold," he rattled down in one breath. "Two green coins."

Baekhyun nodded, never even looking at the tea in front of him.

"And how much for you to tell me what your relationship to Minseok is?"

_ If I knew, my life would be a lot less confusing_, Luhan thought, but he'd rather cut his tongue out than admit that out loud.

"More than you could pay," he quipped. "Do you need a bag with this?"

"You underestimate me," Baekhyun sighed dramatically. "I'm the eyes and ears of this town! I could buy the castle if I wanted to."

That explained how he'd even found him in the first place.

"Sure," Luhan said. "Have fun with that."

"Don't you wanna know the deal about Jongdae and Minseok?"

Luhan paused, if only for a second, before busying himself looking for a small bag.

"Actually, I don't," he said evenly, and Baekhyun hummed suspiciously.

"Liar."

Slightly exasperated, Luhan resurfaced with the bag.

"If I wanna know something, I'll just ask Minseok myself," he said sharply. "Maybe you should consider doing that, too, instead of pressing others for answers."

Unimpressed, Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

"As if he'd actually tell you anything, much less the truth. Witches don't work in teams, and Minseok is the prime example of that. He doesn't confide in anyone at all."

Despite knowing better, the words stung. Luhan refused to show it.

"Two coins. Unless you just came here to waste my time. Then it's three."

"Your time isn't all that valuable, is it?" Baekhyun purred, still wearing that infuriating grin, and Luhan felt himself growing more annoyed.

"Do you want to buy this or not? I'm not sure if you noticed, but I'm currently at work and I’m not being paid for personal small talk."

"You're not?" Baekhyun asked, sounding mock horrified. "How _ boring_. I don't know how you do it."

Before Luhan could find an object hard enough to throw at him, two coins landed on the counter top and Baekhyun was leaning on them, arms crossed, the playfulness dimming down to something more dangerous.

"Then let's make it something other than small talk."

His voice had dropped to something barely above a whisper, and all pride aside, Luhan tensed up. This _ was _a witch he was facing, and when it came down to it, he was powerless in comparison.

"I got some nice advice for you. If you're really interested in Minseok," he began, placing a dramatic pause and allowing Luhan to roll his eyes because of _ course _ this was about Minseok.   
Baekhyun wasn't deterred, his grin turning wolfish.

"...you should kiss him."

A kiss.

There was a tick of insecurity flashing over Luhan's expression, just a tiny movement, gone within the blink of an eye, but it was enough for Baekhyun's grin to turn triumphant.

"Give him a good smooch, right on the lips," he continued in a conspiratorial tone. "He'll never let you go again."

"Because he's cursed?" Luhan asked, masking his messy feelings with a confrontational attitude.

Baekhyun leaned back a little, the spell broken.

"You're pushy, asking for more when this little insight was probably worth more than your life. And to think that I was generous enough to give it to you for free. Unless you have something to compensate for the favour I just did you?"

Luhan couldn't help looking as stunned as he felt at the other's sheer audacity. He'd pushed a supposedly important information on him and now Luhan was in debt, whether he wanted to be or not.

Well, two could play this game.

"So you want me to reward your generosity? Sure. You wanted to know who I am, right? What I am to Minseok?"

He kept his voice nonchalant as he leaned in just as far as his own bravery would let him, voice dropping accordingly. Then he, too, made a dramatic pause before he breathed out his response, slow and clearly enunciated.

"Nothing and nobody."   
Baekhyun shot him an unimpressed glare but Luhan only shrugged.

"Seems like your big, valuable insight is useless for me."

The bag of tea was snatched from the counter, and then Baekhyun was looking him up and down once more, expression closed off.

"You're a piece of shit," he said, somehow making it sound like a compliment. 

Which was probably the reason a flippant, "Thanks. You too," slipped Luhan before he could help it.

"You definitely suit Minseok. Have fun with him, but remember the smooching."

Luhan only stared after him until the door finally closed (suspiciously drawn closed by a gust of wind which was entirely too gentle to be natural).

He counted to ten until he finally relaxed with a sigh.

Before he could even begin to ponder his words, the door was opened again, and an unhappy-looking Yixing entered, carrying bags in both hands.

"Let me put this here for a moment," he muttered, placing the bags down before he walked back out without as much as a hello. Worried, Luhan followed him to the door, and then stepped outside to follow his gaze.

There, right between the door and the window, was a spell taped to the wall. It showed an eye, the two characteristic droplets symbolizing magic, and some other details Luhan couldn't interpret properly.

"The nerve," Yixing grumbled, reaching up to actually rip it off-

"_Don't_," Luhan cut in urgently, one hand on Yixing's shoulder.

A confused look was his response, and Luhan's mind started racing to come up with a valid explanation.

"It might be dangerous," he stammered.

Yixing didn't look convinced.

"How do we know it's not dangerous for our customers?"

Luhan was pretty certain that the spell was meant to be the exact opposite, but he could hardly tell Yixing.

"I'm just worried," he tried. "What if you get hurt? You shouldn't just touch a spell like that on your own, you know that. We gotta inform the government and sit back until someone comes to remove it."

Yixing shot him a long, imploring look.

Luhan could tell him about the symbols, about witches, about what had happened.

Maybe he should.

But maybe he was better off not knowing.

Maybe Baekhyun was right and knowledge alone could demand a price.

He could see Yixing's patience running out with every passing second.

And decided... not to tell him.

"They'll remove it before you know it," he said lightly, shakily. He could be terrible at lying when facing someone he cared about. To no one's surprise, Yixing picked up on it.

"Luhan," he began, the all-too familiar sound of worry seeping into the words.

"Let's go back in, it's cold, isn't it?" he cut him off with a strained smile, entering the store first.

Yixing didn't press for more, and Luhan felt all the worse for it.

It was for the best though. The world of witches had started to creep in on him, knocking on his door and breathing down his neck, but he was not one of them, and neither were Yixing or his family members at the library. He mustn't allow these two worlds to mesh together. For their sake.

It was bad enough that he was somehow toeing the line, teetering between the familiar scent of herbs and faint tea tree oil, between normalcy and magic dusting the air.

He wasn't even supposed to be in this position. Luhan was aware of that.

He wasn't supposed to ask questions about surreal phenomena, about spells and witch societies, and he wasn't supposed to engage with witches, allow them to mess with his head.

And the last thing he should be doing was thinking of Minseok and the secrets he held.

When said witch turned up at the store just around closing time, announcing that they'd visit a friend, Luhan _ could _have brought up Baekhyun. He was itching to talk about it, really, to gain clarity, to ask about the kiss both Baekhyun and the seer had brought up, anything would have been fine with him.

But Minseok had been curt in his demeanour, still strangely distanced and impersonal, and it made Luhan feel uncomfortable. Their entire walk to the Northern part of the town was spent in perfect silence, allowing Luhan to simmer in his own moody thoughts.

Sure, he'd been insecure and intimidated that morning, but with a few hours passing, impatience and a sense of stubbornness had joined his pool of anxiety.

Why was Minseok acting like that, with no warning or explanation whatsoever? Why had he initiated last night, only to make a big deal out of it afterwards? It made no sense. And the most frustrating aspect about it was that Luhan _ knew _Minseok made sense. Everything he did - no matter how absurd or aloof it initially seemed - every mystifying action had a logical explanation with Minseok. Which was why his current behavior made Luhan feel uneasy. It didn't help that the winding courtyard they were walking down was devoid of spells. The brick walls went up high enough to block the sinking sun from his view, and yet there wasn't a single spell in sight. Everything looked somewhat simple and devoid of life, but not shabby. Totally different from just about any place in the town Luhan had been to so far.

They stopped before an inconspicuous-looking door, and Minseok knocked thrice.

While they waited, Luhan subtly straightened his clothing. Unlike him, Minseok looked immaculately dressed as usual, and it made him feel a bit self-conscious.

Just when he was about to say something, to suggest that nobody's home, the door opened, revealing a young man with dark eyes, looking a bit confused to see them.

"Hello, Kyungsoo," Minseok said, calm but at the same time warmer than he'd been towards Luhan that day. He sounded almost fond, in a subtle, Minseok-kind of way. "I take it you didn't receive my note."

The man in the threshold blinked, and then opened the door further.

"I did. I think. Come in."

His voice was low, oozing certainty, confidence and nonchalance. Kyungsoo was a strangely unwavering presence, similar to Minseok and yet lacking the other's liveliness or playful attitude. He was also the closest to what Luhan used to imagine witches to look and live like. Everything aside from his pale skin was black - his eyes, his hair, his clothes, even most of the accessories and objects lining the shelves and filling every free inch of his walls. Where Minseok's home looked deceivingly normal at first glance, nothing about this place looked ordinary. Rows and rows of intricate-looking bottles were lined up in glass cabinets, making the room feel small and cramped, while the table was filled with open books, ink, rulers, brushes, charts, and technical drawings that didn't make sense to Luhan. Just like the content of most bottles, the symbols were black as well. All of them.

"I brought you something," Minseok announced, pulling a chair out of a corner while Kyungsoo unceremoniously lifted a stack of books off a third chair, placing it right on the mess on his desk. Luhan stood there until Minseok gestured him to take a seat, which he did, feeling stiff and nervous.

The place was making him feel claustrophobic. It was probably due to the things moving inside the bottles, slow and almost unnoticeable like clouds in the sky, but he felt strangely caged in.

Completely unaffected, Minseok placed a familiar-looking dagger over an open book.

The other witch - Kyungsoo - sank into the chair across them, picking it up with mild interest.

"This one's a little different," Minseok stated. It sounded almost like a warning.

Kyungsoo only nodded, turning the blade around in his hands.

"I can tell. Do you need this back?"

"If that's an option," Minseok shrugged. It was surreal, seeing Minseok as the relaxed, easy-going one in a conversation. Or rather, he hadn't seen him act like that towards anyone that wasn't him before, a quiet voice in Luhan's head added.

With a faint nod, Kyungsoo placed the dagger back on the desk, where his eyes kept flitting to it as if he was being drawn in.

"I'll see what I can do. What brings you here?"

Curt and to the point. It was evident that the witch across them was not one for small talk, and yet Luhan didn't get any hostile vibes from him.

"You missed the Walpurgis," Minseok stated with a small chuckle.

Kyungsoo shrugged.

"So what?"

"So Junmyeon sent me," Minseok replied easily, leaning back in his chair. "He was probably very persistent this time around, wasn't he?"

"I had to replace my desk," Kyungsoo stated blankly. "That stupid invitation ruined the wood."

Minseok seemed amused though it bled into seriousness as he talked.

"I bet. He was hoping you'd attend. We’ve got a string of unfamiliar demons roaming the city. Apparently, something big is coming our way."

Now Kyungsoo was interested, Luhan could see it in the way his gaze sharpened.

"What do you know?" he asked inquisitively, already reaching for a fountain pen.

"About what's to come? Nothing. You'll have to ask Yifan about that," Minseok admitted. "As for the recent ones I've been facing... they've been unusually large, and quite slippery. Fickle, too, if that makes sense."

Kyungsoo nodded as he jotted down notes in tiny, precise letters.

"It does. I'll look into it."

"I'll bring you whatever I can get my hands on," Minseok promised.

Seeing them like this made it painfully obvious that they were talking as equals. They really were friends, as odd as the prospect of either of them having friends seemed.

What did that make Minseok and him? He'd been like that with him, too, at least until this morning-

"I was planning on visiting you regardless of all this though," Minseok changed the topic, nodding towards Luhan. "Can you take a look at him?"

Ripped out of his thoughts and suddenly put on display, Luhan flinched. It didn't help that Kyungsoo's gaze was piercing... and strangely suggestive as it ran him up and down as if he only now noticed his presence.

"I'm looking at him alright."

Minseok actually snorted.

"Back off. There's demon stains on him and they just won't vanish."

Within the blink of an eye, the dark look had switched to one of professional interest again.

"Where?"

Wordlessly, Luhan bared his neck, rubbing at the cream on his throat. He didn't even flinch when Kyungsoo walked around the table, one hand on the back of his chair, the other cupping his throat. All the serious issues aside, Luhan faintly hoped the stains would be resolved soon if only to have strangers stop touching his throat. Especially if they emitted a faint, tantalizing scent and had eyes as dark as Kyungsoo’s. Luhan closed his eyes, breathing evenly while small, sturdy fingers massaged his skin, tracing out the stains.

"The demon already disintegrated, but the stains won't leave," he heard Minseok explain from behind him. "Maybe it wasn't an ordinary demon. I thought you might know how to get rid of them."

"How did he get them?" Kyungsoo asked before him and this time, Minseok hesitated.

"I ate a demon and touched him."

"More like tried to strangle me," Luhan muttered, and Kyungsoo huffed in amusement. He didn't say anything though, feeling around until suddenly, he stopped.

"Is he your student?" he asked, fingers still on Luhan's skin.

"No. Just a regular civilian," Minseok said, and for once, Luhan wasn't concerned about his choice of words. Kyungsoo had found something, he knew it.

"I see."

The fingers were gone and Luhan blinked against the dim light coming from the tiny window near the ceiling.

Kyungsoo looked thoughtful, and without moving a muscle, his eyes flit up to meet Minseok's.

"You wanna get rid of the stains, huh?"

"I do," Minseok said, but it came out hesitant, like he was feeling something wasn't quite right.

"Alright," Kyungsoo hummed equanimously, walking around the table again to open one of the cabinets. Inside, there was a black box, secured with an obviously magical symbol which Kyungsoo ignored.

A small glass bottle was placed on the table in front of them with certainty - Luhan didn't have to ask to know that whatever the tiny green, opulent-looking bottle was holding was priceless. Next to him, Minseok's breath hitched.

"That should help," Kyungsoo said cryptically, shooting him a meaningful look. "Of course it would cost you something. There's limits to what I can give you for free."

Confused, Luhan looked for Minseok, but what he found in his expression only made it worse - the other looked nothing sort of shell-shocked, confusion and disbelief mixing in a way Luhan had never seen with him.

"That's-" he began, eyes flitting to Luhan and quickly changing directions.

"That's the only way," he only echoed, shooting Kyungsoo a conflicted look. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes," Kyungsoo replied without missing a beat, the tip of his pointer finger softly tapping the glass bottle. "I'm assuming you want to consider this carefully."

"What's in there?" Luhan asked, unable to hold back with how severe Minseok had reacted.

"I will," Minseok muttered, getting to his feet, not looking Luhan in the eye.

"Take your time," Kyungsoo replied mildly, returning the bottle to the box and gingerly closing the cabinet, perfect composure where Minseok seemed distraught.

"You really won't tell me what's in there, are you?" Luhan asked more to himself than anything, the hint of panic easily covering up any annoyance he should probably feel.

To his surprise, it wasn't Minseok who comforted him, but Kyungsoo.

"Don't worry," he said when Luhan got to his feet as well. He was seeking Luhan’s gaze and this time, there was neither assessment nor dark promise to them. "You'll live."

The statement brought up more questions than it answered, but the way he said it was incredibly calming, all but forcing Luhan to believe him.

For a brief moment, he got lost in the other's dark eyes, all his worries forgotten.

Then Kyungsoo _ smiled_, and the atmosphere was tilted immediately.

"Come visit me anytime," he offered lowly, and by now, Luhan was suspecting himself to be born an idiot with how drawn he was to potentially dangerous people.

"Don't get your hopes up," Minseok said from the doorway, but Luhan couldn't help exchanging a last, long look with Kyungsoo before stumbling after him.

Outside, the sun had already set and the sky was paling.

For the first few meters, it was silent, gravel crunching beneath their feet.

"So... are you going to tell me what all this-"

"Don't go seeking him out in private," Minseok cut him off, and for a moment, Luhan was too stunned to be mad.

"He doesn't look like it, but he's ruthless with these things," Minseok explained, not looking him in the eye, staying half a step ahead of him. "I've seen it happen quite a few times - he may be a good lay, but he'll chew you up and spit you right out."

"And you wouldn't."

It had slipped out in a fit of annoyance, and there was no denying the challenging undertone it held.

Minseok hesitated, and when he replied, it came out quiet - faint, really - and entirely unreadable.

"No, I would not."

Luhan threw his arms up, looking around as if the answers might actually be in sight, floating in the sky above him. That was it, he'd had enough.

"You know what? I don't get you," he pressed out, trying to stay composed. "I don't get you at all."

When no verbal reaction followed, Luhan stopped.

Two steps ahead, Minseok did the same.

"I don't know if you noticed it, but this concerns my _ life_," Luhan said sharply, refusing to back down this time. "It might not mean much to you guys but I'd appreciate if you would at least tell me what this was all about."

Minseok looked like he was fighting a headache, but Luhan had little pity for him right now.

"So?" he asked, one hand in his pocket, nails painfully digging into the seams.

Minseok looked at him, made a motion as if to shake his head, parted his lips as if to say something-

But ultimately, he stayed silent.

With a huff, Luhan looked to the side, composing himself.

"Fine," he said, and it came out amazingly calm. Then he turned on his heel and started to walk.

"You know what? I'll sleep over at my own place today. See you."

He didn't _ really _expect Minseok to call after him, but when he didn't, Luhan couldn't help feeling bitter.

And despite the wonderful feeling of sleeping in his own bed, he couldn't help feeling miserable and strangely lonely, either.


	10. Borders

Three days had passed, and it didn’t look like anyone would stop by their store to remove the protective rune any time soon. They’d been appearing all over the city, covering usually clean streets, houses and stores in spells bit by bit. Something was coming, and even though nobody knew how to interpret the runes showing up, the atmosphere was tensing up. There were more officers patrolling the streets, and people stood up straighter under their gaze, forcing themselves to smile and show they had nothing to hide. It was gloomy and suffocating. Even the library was affected, its patrons and staff members reduced to weak smiles and careful advice to stay safe.

Luhan looked out through the store front, watching the metal emblems blink in the sunlight as two officers crossed the street. They seemed to stick to main roads, but everyone did these days. Not necessarily because the spells had become scarier, but because being seen walking down such a street was a bad idea in itself.

With a sigh, Luhan sank into one of the two chairs, burying his head on his arms. Like this, the counter looked empty, but there were hardly any customers, anyway.

Despite Baekhyun being incredibly nosy and annoying, he had to admit that what he was currently doing was an amazing feat. With how Junmyeon had addressed him in particular, Luhan was pretty sure he was the only one securing the streets, and despite the seals appearing in very much public places, he hadn't been caught yet.

Feeling bored and glum, he toyed with one of the bottles, placing a finger on the cap to slowly tip it, balancing it on the bottom edge.

It had been three days since he'd left Minseok. Most of his things were still there, but he didn't feel like getting them. It wasn't like he wouldn't find his way - he still had the ring, after all.

It would just be... awkward.

Back then, he'd simply needed some space, and sleeping over at his own place happened in the heat of the moment. Luhan had never intended to leave Minseok's place for longer than a night, but when he returned the next day, Minseok was barely home and when he did return, he treated Luhan didn’t exist.

Feeling awkward and unwanted, he'd returned to his own place, where he'd slept the night before, too.

So technically, it had only been two days. Two nights.

Slowly, he moved the bottle in a circle.

He really was pathetic, but there was no denying that the ball was in Minseok's court. If the other refused to talk to him... well. Then what?

Luhan could hardly force him. He couldn't go back to pretending he'd never met him, either; the marks on his throat made sure of that. And even if one day, Minseok appeared with a miracle cure, taking back his ring and leaving for good, would that really be alright? It wasn't like Luhan had much of a say in this matter, and it would probably be for the best, but would it be _ alright _?

There was no need to try and lie to himself - he'd grown attached to Minseok. A lot. A little too much, probably. At this rate, he was ready to go back to his place and ask him to pretend they'd never slept together in the first place, and vow not to do it again if only they could go back to being friends. If that's what they'd been before.

The bottle slipped and met the wood. Luhan didn't even flinch.

Who was he trying to fool? Things had been different between them right off the bat. There had always been _ something_, a certain type of tension, sparks of something a little more intense than platonic friendship. Luhan felt like those sparks had scarred him already, leaving a lasting imprint on his skin. Which was ironic, of course, thinking of the literal marks on his skin, but he wasn't in the mood to laugh at himself.

He should visit Minseok once more, confront him again, but with more patience. This entire situation was delicate and complex, pulling at him from various angles, but he refused to stay still and let it all wash over him, let it all pass by.

The door was opened and Luhan all but shot to his feet, a polite smile plastered on his face-

"Welcome-"

-and dying as soon as his eyes fell on Minseok who sent him a barely there nod.

"Hi."

He looked less extravagant than usual, and the small smile he shot him was almost wry, looking somewhat forced. Gone was the confident, glamorous witch - the guy approaching the counter looked nice, but modest, calm and slightly tired.

The unusual sight was enough to make Luhan nervous.

"Hi..." he said carefully, trailing off, because really, he had no idea what to say.

Minseok's gaze dropped to the counter and for a short moment, Luhan was perfectly lost. He had absolutely no idea where this was going.

"Are you free?"

Luhan blinked. And looked around the store.

"Right now?" he asked, brows raised. "I'm kinda... working."

The store was deserted and Yixing was somewhere in the backrooms, cleaning the storage, so technically, he could just leave, but he wasn't quite seeing why he should drop everything for the other. Yes, he might be pathetic and aware of it, but he still had some dignity left.

Minseok's lips parted for a nearly soundless 'ah'.

"Sure," he exhaled, taking a deep breath. "Later? When do you finish?"

"What do you want?" Luhan asked back, realizing that it came out more aggressive than he'd intended to, so he added, "Talk? Go somewhere?"

"Both," Minseok replied immediately. "I want to show you something."

"Cryptic as usual," Luhan sighed. Something akin to regret flickered over Minseok's expression, and Luhan caved in, because being difficult wasn't in his nature and he didn't like Minseok like this.

"Is it important?"

"Yes," Minseok said, quiet but sure. Serious, really.

"And is it dangerous?" Luhan tacked on as a second thought. Wordlessly, Minseok shook his head.

Luhan nodded to himself, because really, he'd already made up his mind and fooling himself didn't help either of them.

"Fine. I'll get my stuff and let Yixing know."

* * *

They had already left the city's central district, crossing the river and entering the Eastern parts of town when Luhan spoke up for the first time.

"Where are we going?"

He didn't actually expect an answer - it was simply an attempt to get a feeling for the other's mood, for the situation lying ahead of them.

"Windshire."

Luhan scrunched up his face in confusion, eyes on the uneven cobblestones so as not to trip. Windshire was a tiny outpost to the East. It barely qualified as a village, seeing as it mostly consisted of an old viewing tower and a few huts gathered around it where soldiers and their families lived humble lives. At least that's what Luhan knew from the papers - he'd never been there. There was no reason to go there, and on other news...

"That's quite a trip. I have work tomorrow, you know?" Luhan asked, not unfriendly, before he remembered that he was talking to a witch, who would probably travel in unconventional ways. Minseok didn't tease him about it.

"We'll be back before that."

They entered a building through the backdoor, with Luhan naturally following the other's lead. There was no telling what the building was for but the winding, wooden stairs kept creaking under their feet, suggesting the place was old and forgotten. They didn't encounter anyone either, not until they walked down a narrow corridor and Minseok opened one of the many inconspicuous doors. Inside, a young boy looked up from where he was sitting by the window sill, clearly not surprised to see them. He looked younger than both of them, boyish, and with the light of the setting sun illuminating his face, familiar.

"I’ve seen you around the library before," Luhan burst out before he could stop himself. Minseok shot him a quick glance while the boy currently getting to his feet looked surprised, maybe even suspicious, in a very unguarded way. His eyes flitted from Luhan to Minseok.

"You said you needed a portal-" he began accusingly, and Minseok cut him off right away.

"-and I do. Don't mind him. It's just a coincidence."

After a beat of silence, the boy relented. He was still openly mistrusting them, which was evident in how he eyed them even as he crouched down to touch a large symbol that had been etched into the wooden ground. There was a subtle change in the air, the faint smell of burnt wood, and then the boy was stepping aside, defensively crossing his arms.

"It's open."

Minseok gently grabbed Luhan's arm, steering him towards the circle, but before stepping on it, he shot the boy a small, but not unfriendly smile.

"Thanks, Jongin."

Right, Jongin was his name, Luhan thought absently as the world around him was pulled apart, colors being smeared as everything bled into different forms. He closed his eyes when a sudden breeze washed over him, playfully tugging at his hair and making him tear up.

The wind was strong, much stronger than he was used to, living within the confines of the capital, and when he opened his eyes, all he saw was a cloudless sky.

His stomach dropped.

"Are we- _ on _the tower?" he asked, panic vibrating from every syllable as his fingers dug into Minseok's arm, holding on for dear life. There was a ceiling, but it only went up to their waists, and above that, he saw nothing but sky with mountains at the far, pale horizon.

Minseok tensed under his grip, but it was mere self-defense - his voice stayed perfectly calm.

"It'll be alright. I'm pretty sure, at least. Trust me."

"You have awful timing regarding such big phrases," Luhan pressed out, sounding comically high-pitched.

Never in his life had he been in a place this high. Which made sense, considering that he got nauseous from the second floor upwards.

"We'll try this," Minseok only hummed. "If it doesn't work, we'll leave straight away."

"_If what doesn't work?_" Luhan asked, lost on which word he wanted to highlight, because every single one had a right to.

Minseok made a step towards the railing, and Luhan's response was a very pitiful sound.

"No," he whined, the words just bubbling out now, "no, please, I'll throw up, what do you want, just tell me straight up, come _ on_, Minseok-"

The other had the nerve to shush him, which would be enough for Luhan to angrily lash out in his vulnerable state, but luckily for both of them, Minseok chose to actually talk this time, loud enough to reach him over the howling wind.

"I don't think this height will make you feel sick. Strange, maybe, but not sick. Not like it usually does."

Luhan calmed down upon hearing this - at least enough to stop babbling. He was still stiff as a board, but at least Minseok had considered his fear of heights and was going somewhere with this.

"Close your eyes," Minseok said, and after a beat of silence, he added, "I won't do anything strange. I won't even move. Promise."

It was like the weird atmosphere between them had temporarily evaporated to make room for the unusual situation. Like what had happened between them had been nothing but a fleeting argument. With no brain capacity to analyze any of this, Luhan simply closed his eyes, refusing to let go of Minseok. Around him, the wind dimmed down. Whatever magic Minseok was working, it was now quiet enough to hear his own, slightly ragged breathing.

"Give it some time. Just try to relax."

That was easier said than done, but without the strong wind and thanks to the solid body beside him, he felt the upcoming hysteria ebb down.

"What do you usually feel if you're up high?"

Luhan shrugged, but dutifully kept his eyes closed.

"Headaches? I get nauseous, too. It feels like, I don't know - like a minty sensation. Just cold and prickly and uncomfortable. One time I actually threw up."

"And did you know that those symptoms are very unusual?"

"I was vaguely aware."

Minseok hummed.

"Fear of heights usually shows in a rapid heartbeat," he explained, just slightly leaning into Luhan, "or the kind of fear you feel when facing something dangerous. Sweating, frantic behaviour, all those are common indicators."

Luhan could only shrug again.

"I just thought I was a little messed up in that regard..."

"And what do you feel in crowded places?"

By now, he really wanted to know where Minseok was going with this, so his answer came without hesitation.

"The same, really. The headaches and everything. Why?"

"Because even for agoraphobia, those symptoms are unusual. Not impossible, but unusual," Minseok said with a certain finality to it. "Tell me if you feel any of this right now."

Luhan took a deep, but steady breath, and opened his eyes. The setting sun to his right dipped the lands in shades of gold, coating the meadows and forests, gleaming on the mountains in the distance.

It was easily the most beautiful place he'd ever been in.

Carefully, he placed a hand on the railing, looking around. With his fingers sliding over the railing, he slowly walked around the platform until he could see the capital in the distance.

Seeing the town - this world he had lived in all his life - so small and far away was strangely freeing.

"So? What do you feel?" Minseok asked beside him. Out of words, Luhan could only lightly shake his head. It was hard to believe but... he didn't feel any pain at all. Sure, when he dared to lean forward enough to see the ground so far beneath them, the sight made him a little nervous, but the breathtaking view easily made up for it.

"Nothing. It's all gone," he admitted.

Minseok actually smiled at that, thin but full of relief.

"That's because you don't have a fear of heights, Luhan. And probably not a fear of crowded places, either."

Luhan could only tilt his head in question upon hearing that. Minseok didn't make him wait any longer.

"What you're feeling, that uncomfortable sensation, leads back to the magic permeating the air. Or rather to the activity it's forced into."

"What do you mean?" Luhan asked, feeling a bit shaky already. Maybe Minseok had sensed that because he gently pulled him to the ground so they could sit right by the railing. The railing consisting of metal bars, very much allowing him a view that _ should _be making him sick. Right now, Luhan felt so safe he could lean against them with his back, if he wanted to. Right now, he could forget about all of it, in favour of attentively listening to Minseok, whose hand was resting next to his thigh, just shy of touching him, staying within reach.

"What you're feeling is active magic," he explained. "You don't have a fear of heights, you can simply feel Jongdae's magic as you get higher - it's permeating the air at pretty much all times and it's getting thicker the higher you get. You could picture it like a globe covering the town."

"And I can feel that?" Luhan asked sceptically.

"Apparently. I should have noticed it sooner, really," Minseok sighed. "The way you behaved at the restaurant and around other witches... your perception was a bit _ too _sharp. I just assumed you're ridiculously observant."

Cluelessly, Luhan shook his head.

"I didn't do anything special though. Anyone would be able to see unnatural things happening-"

"Yes, but you're able to _ sense _them," Minseok cut him off, sounding patient. "The capital is a hotchpotch of witches and magic, and crowds are extremely likely to attract magic of all kinds, both intentional and not. Its likely to find witches among them, decked in concealing, active magic. What did you feel during my execution?"

Helplessly, Luhan shook his head.

"I don't remember," he muttered, racking his brain for that one, fateful day. "It was prickly, I guess? It wasn't too terrible, but..."

But he had felt _ something._ He'd simply accepted that crowds made him feel weird. There was nothing too unusual about that, after all.

"I noticed that you didn't seem to mind during the Walpurgis," Minseok added. Now that he'd said it out loud, he was driven by the urge to piece it all together for Luhan to witness.

"Magic is being suppressed there thanks to some ancient, powerful spells, and it seems to work for you."

"But," Luhan began, too overwhelmed to form a coherent thought, "doesn't everyone feel that? Magic, I mean? Maybe I'm just the only one who gets sick-"

"Not even witches sense magic like you do," Minseok stated with absolute certainty, shutting Luhan up for good.

They didn't?

"There's tools and spells and ways to train our perception but not even the sharpest witch would feel sick upon stepping into an actively magical area."

Luhan immediately thought of the demon clinging to his skin - the only abnormal thing about him, really.

"Maybe it's another, invisible demon thing," he tried, but Minseok only shook his head, not even breaking eye contact.

"The demon jumped you _ because _you were clean. Because it saw vulnerable, untapped potential it could feed on. The potion Kyungsoo placed on the table back was a rare, infamous and terribly difficult to produce elixir that takes away your abilities to work with magic. Indirectly, he told me that the reason the demon is still around is that you have potential."

Minseok took a deep breath as if _ he _was the one who had to calm down, as if it wasn't Luhan who felt not only physically, but also mentally detached and too far away from the ground. Then he met his gaze again, serious and composed, his words steady and dusted with urgency.

"You have the potential to become a witch."

"Me?" Luhan asked numbly. It didn't matter that Minseok wasn't the type to repeat himself, that he likely wouldn't receive a verbal reaction.

The potential to become a witch.

His first thought was something along the lines of '_Oh, so it is something you need to be born with,'_ and then a flurry of subconscious images of him as a witch flashed by, too fast to be ashamed of, and only then did his mind dare to really tackle this intimidating piece of information.

"...huh. Maybe that's why I ended up at the orphanage. You think they knew?"

Minseok grimaced.

"Probably not. I'd imagine they had a vague idea at most."

"And do I have to become a witch now?"

This time, Minseok broke eye contact first, and he could see him straightening his posture.

"That's up to you."

"I can just choose not to become one?"

"Sure you can," Minseok affirmed easily.

"But what about the demon?" Luhan asked doubtfully. Minseok wasn't deterred, but also still refused to meet his eye.

"If you don't want to use your potential, you can take the potion and it'll be gone. The demon will dissolve naturally, then."

Oh.

"So," Luhan began slowly, fingers restlessly running over the rough, wooden planks they were sitting on, "You’re saying I either become a witch or I'll kill that weird sense of mine and never become one."

"Yeah."

"I either... leave everything behind and become a witch," Luhan trailed off, looking into the far distance, taking in the fantastic sight of the sun dipping beneath the horizon, "or I return to my previous life and forget about witches entirely."

Saying it out loud made him truly realize the meaning of that statement. If he were to become a witch like Minseok, there was no way he'd still be able to work at the store with Yixing, or help out at the library - it would endanger them, and that was the last thing Yixing or the library staff deserved. If he _ didn't _become a witch, on the other hand, Minseok didn't really have a reason to keep him around any longer, and technically, associating with him was dangerous for Luhan, too, probably more so if he was lacking this strange potential of his.

"You don't have to decide straight away," Minseok hurried to assure him, and Luhan nodded.

"I- I'll definitely think about it."

He saw him nod and then look into the distance. Luhan did the same, turning towards the railing until their sides touched just barely, just enough to be considered coincidental by a desperate person.

For a long time, it was silent as Luhan kept turning the new-found information around his head, looking at it from all angles, trying to make sure he understood everything correctly.

"So," he finally began, fighting the urge to fidget and trying his best to sound nonchalant, "how long have you known?"

"I only figured it out when Kyungsoo told me," came the immediate reply, and Luhan nodded, having expected as much. It led right to his next question.

"And you held back on telling me right away because you were afraid you wouldn't get rid of me? Or because it would be awkward to be friends with benefits with another witch?"

"What?"

He could see Minseok stare at him, but Luhan was nervous enough as it was, so he focused on a speck of dirt gathering at the bottom of a metal bar.

"You _ know_," he trailed off, making a vaguely dismissive hand gesture, "Like you wanted to mess around and then you were scared that if you told me about my witch potential, I'd use the chance to latch onto you because I might misinterpret things between us? That kinda thing."

"Don't be ridiculous," Minseok muttered. "I held back on it because it's a serious, life-changing information and I had to think it through first."

"And did sleeping with me influence your decision in any way or...?" Luhan asked before he could help it.

For a moment he thought he might have pushed the other too far, but a glance told him that Minseok looked defensive rather than angry, his gaze resting on his lap.

"That wasn't about that," he said quietly. It reminded Luhan of the way he'd talked the last time Luhan had confronted him - surprisingly small, fragile almost.

This time, Luhan didn't want to fight or hurt him, so he mirrored the other's volume.

"Then what _ was _it about?" he asked carefully.

There was a light shrug, an aborted shake of his head, parted lips, and a beat of silence. This time, Luhan waited patiently.

"I just- when you asked me about my reasons," Minseok eventually began, cutting himself off only to pick up after a split second, "my reasons to show you so many things, to explain magic and take you along to the Walpurgis - I realized that I have none. It was entirely unnecessary and I shouldn't have done it."

It was probably his overwhelmed mind getting ahead of himself, but Luhan felt a spark of hope.

"But you did, anyway. For fun," he asked rather than stated. Minseok closed his eyes and nodded. It wasn't much, but it was obvious that he was trying to work with Luhan despite this being immensely difficult for him, so Luhan decided to take the lead for once.

"Do you want to stay casual?"

In response to the questioning look, he added, "Like, do you want to be friends who just mess around once in a while?"

"Do you?" Minseok asked, sounding guarded, but Luhan wouldn't have it.

"No, no, no," he said, slipping away enough to shoot him an accusing look. "Not this time. You’ll answer first. Why do I always have to be the one guessing with you?"

"Like I'm not guessing here," Minseok sighed, showing a glimpse of the stubborn witch he'd come to know.

Luhan huffed.

"Please, I am an open book to the point it's embarrassing-"

"Except you're not," Minseok cut him off, surprisingly firm and if Luhan didn't know any better, he'd say the other looked accusing as well. "You seem like messing around would be perfectly fine with you."

Luhan crossed his arms, trying to downplay his rapidly beating heart by keeping the conversation going.

"Like you wouldn't be able to pull that off. Now you're just lying-"

"I would!" Minseok insisted, finally turning towards him and lowering his guard for long enough to let the next words slip.

"Of course I would be able to, but we're long past that already!"

Luhan blinked.

"We are?"

With a breathy, almost pitiful groan, Minseok buried his face in his hands.

"Are you serious?" he asked, muffled against his palms, and Luhan felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"Well. That's how hard to read you are," he countered, but it came out weak at best.

"I thought I could get you out of my system if we just did it," Minseok muttered, throwing up his hands in defeat. "But I can't. So there. There's your answer."

"So" Luhan began, trying not to get his hopes up prematurely and to make absolutely sure he was following, "is the answer that you don't wanna be casual and you'd rather have me out of your life entirely or...?"

"Luhan, I want to be with you. More than friends. More than casual hook ups. I would really, really like that."

It was the way he said it that made Luhan shut up and listen. Certain and yet restrained.

"But I'm a witch. Being with me might bear a heavy burden and it's not my place to step up and just dump all these secrets on you with no regard for your safety and happiness. I've already gone way too far."

Despite everything... Luhan couldn't help smiling.

It just happened, sneaking up on him and fighting its way to the surface.

"I want it, too."

No pretense, no excuses, no witty banter.

For a moment, there was nothing but the simple truth lingering in the air, all cards placed on the table face up.

It felt strangely vulnerable and yet exhilarating.

Minseok looked him in the eye like he was searching for doubts, but this might be one of the only things he was perfectly certain about at this point.

Then he swallowed, slipping closer to him, one hand coming up to cup the side of his face.

"Okay," he breathed out like he was gearing himself up, eyes flitting down to his lips and then he was close enough to smell his perfume-

"Wait-"

Dazed and reluctant, Luhan leaned away just enough to be able to look him in the eyes.

"Is this really okay? I thought you shouldn't..." he trailed off, trying not to get lost in the other's eyes that looked just a tad darker than usual.

"It's alright," Minseok whispered, and Luhan simply trusted him, closed his eyes and allowed himself to feel a moment of undisturbed peace when their lips brushed.

No matter what the future brought, this was a decision he could make right on the spot, and he already knew that he was not going to regret it. No matter what was going to happen after this, he'd never deny the completion he'd felt up there, on top of the Eastern outpost, the farthest he'd ever been from home... when Minseok kissed him for the first time, unhurried, dizzying, gentle, never stopping for too long, unbothered by the stars appearing one by one in the sky above them.


	11. The Library

"Minseok?"

"Hm?"

"How did you become a witch?"

It was almost comical how fast Minseok went from casually listening to shooting him an almost alarmed look. Luhan was quick to lift his hands in defense.

"I'm just curious, I swear."

The other's gaze got more sceptical before he gave in, gently prying the cutting knife out of Luhan's hands.

"Give me that before you hurt either of us," he muttered. Luhan fleetingly rolled his eyes, but let him be. Instead, he reached for a few uncut flowers, separating petals and leaves from the stem, placing them in their respective bowls as Minseok explained.

"It's not like you just turn into a witch overnight," he began, cleanly cutting the roots off the stem, only to slice them open with the precision of a doctor wielding a scalpel.

"You'll have to find someone to teach you, and that's probably one of the biggest challenges about it. Because-"

"Witches don't work in teams, they hate people, I know, I know," Luhan cut him off, accidentally ripping a petal in two. "But how did _ you _become a witch? How did you find a mentor and what were they like? I can't picture any of the witches I've seen at the Walpurgis as your mentor. Except for Junmyeon maybe," he added as an afterthought.

Minseok actually snorted.

"Please. Junmyeon is pretty much my age. By the time he received his ring, I already had a table to myself at the Walpurgis."

"With Kyungsoo?" Luhan asked, enjoying the faintest bit of insecurity flashing over Minseok's face at the mention of Kyungsoo. Not like Luhan was a mean person who would provoke jealousy... much. He'd definitely save those kind of shenanigans for when the tick of insecurity had vanished though.

"Yeah. Kyungsoo was my closest friend back then," Minseok began, sounding faintly nostalgic. "I spent a lot of time in the hidden library as a teen since it was the only magical location I had access to. Kyungsoo was a regular there, and pretty much the only one around most of the time. He's never had a mentor, by the way. Kyungsoo is entirely self-taught. So there's exceptions, too."

Luhan perked up at that.

"There's a hidden library? Where?"

"Yeah right, like I'm gonna tell you that," Minseok quipped, the hint of a smile on his lips. It infected Luhan, who played up an exasperated groan.

"Fine, keep gushing about your best friend, then-"

Minseok chuckled, short and breathy, and Luhan could tell that he was embarrassed.

"What's there to gush about - either way, I observed the library patrons and listened to them until I found the witch I wanted to be my mentor."

Luhan hummed, signaling that he was listening. Sure, he could continue to tease him, but he _ did _want to know.

"And then I pestered her until she finally gave in," Minseok shrugged in, and Luhan snorted.

"Really now?"

"Really," Minseok confirmed, and just thinking of it seemed to amuse him. "Her magic was based on fire and ice, so it had to be her. She'd also never taken a student before. Even by today's standards, you could say she was... different."

"You're saying she was terribly eccentric, aren't you?" Luhan asked blankly, and Minseok hummed.

"Very eccentric. An excellent teacher though, after she committed to doing it. Made my life a living hell."

"I've always taken you for a sadist more so than a masochist," Luhan muttered, only to get a little jab to his side.

"Half-hearted efforts have yet to make a competent witch."

"Then what does make one? Like, who decides that you're ready and gives you a ring?"

"No one does. You gotta make it yourself," Minseok shrugged.

"But you're not gonna forge it yourself, are you?"

"You think it's gonna appear from thin air, by magic?"

Luhan waited four full seconds in blank exasperation, just until Minseok placed the knife down, to blow air into his ear. Minseok flinched in a way so violent it told him that he hadn't expected it at all.

"No, I don't," Luhan said with what he'd never admit to be a pout, "I know magic doesn't work like that. Which is why I asked about forging-"

"You can take just any ring. As long as the enchantment works, allowing you into the Walpurgis and being actively connected to the other rings... you're set," Minseok hummed, rubbing his ear as he dumped the cut roots into a fourth bowl.

"Junmyeon brought that up a lot," Luhan mentioned off-handedly, "the ring, I mean. He made it sound like it's able to help you in dangerous situations."

"Not really," Minseok replied dismissively, filling just enough water into the sink to clean knives and cutting boards right away, because he was clean like that.

"You can call for help using the ring. It sends a signal to every other ring, but whether or not anyone will come to your aid is a different story altogether. It's not like anyone's obligated to."

"I see," Luhan trailed off, wordlessly taking the knives to dry them.

Minseok sounded like a mentor already, but he was wise enough not to mention it; it was the only truly sensitive topic between them and currently, he enjoyed the way they were healing all the little scratches gathered along the way.

Four days had passed since their meetup in Windshire and Luhan already found it much easier to read Minseok. That one, honest conversation had given him the necessary clues he'd been missing. He had yet to get over the fact that Minseok thought _ Luhan _ was the mature one out of them, that _ he _would be the one who'd be composed and cool when it came to relationships. It also sounded like a given to say that Minseok saw eye to eye with him, but with how much Luhan used to admire him - and still did - that was easy to forget.

One thing about Minseok he was able to pinpoint exactly by now, however, was embarrassement. Their conversation on the tower had helped, yes, but it became even more evident when they fell into bed that night - Luhan had been fully intending to fall asleep while innocently enjoying the sound of their quickly beating hearts, but Minseok wouldn't have it, hands dipping into his pants before he knew it. It took until shortly before his second orgasm for him to hold Luhan close, whispering sweet nothings into his ear; that's when he realized that in his own, twisted way, Minseok was _ shy_.

Well, Luhan didn't mind having amazing sex and he certainly didn't mind waiting for Minseok to become comfortable around him.

Luhan himself needed some more time, anyway, to figure out what to do about the stains on his throat. Clearly, Minseok was ready to keep him in his life whether he became a witch or not, and now it was on him to make a big decision.

He could only hope that time wasn't running out.

* * *

  


The library might be well-funded but not nearly rich enough to afford electrical lights in any room but the main hall and the archive, so every day, someone had to light the oil lamps before the sun set. It wasn't exactly a popular job, so nobody had fought Luhan for it. Usually, Luhan would be the first to try and talk himself out of it, too, but this time, he'd volunteered, and now he was walking down every single corridor like he had all the time in the world, fingertips brushing the wall as he moved as quietly as possible.

He'd been thinking about this even before Minseok had mentioned the hidden library, because no matter how mindblowing being with Minseok was, so was the realization that there was something magical about Luhan himself. Now that he knew what to look for, he was obviously eager to try and get a feeling for this sixth sense of his, so he'd been taking his time on his way to and from the store, purposefully crossing squares and squeezing himself through busy markets, all the while paying close attention to what he was feeling. Sometimes he felt surprisingly comfortable, while other times the sensation was so unbearable that he had to hurry and put some distance between him and wherever he was before it made him physically sick.One thing was certain, however - he was always feeling _ something_. Be it a deserted street or an empty square at night, there was always a distinct, grainy feeling in his stomach. It was nothing more than the vaguest kind of restlessness that never subsided, not even inside the store or at Luhan's home, both of which were decidedly unmagical places. Luhan had thought about that while he'd been packing up more of his clothes to take to Minseok's place, and a sudden, random realization had led to where he was now.

The only places where he'd felt truly calm and peaceful, with no disturbances whatsoever had been the Walpurgis... and the library. Minseok had mentioned how the location they'd been to was protected by powerful, ancient concealing magic - which probably made sense if there were more people with similar predispositions as Luhan out there - so the only logical conclusion was that the same applied to the library. Considering everything he knew about witches, Luhan doubted that they had casted some sort of concealing spells to make the library a better place out of pure kindness.

Surely, the magic library Minseok had talked about was somewhere within these corridors, he thought, listening closely to the perfect silence inside his head and stomach, waiting for the feeling to stir.

Somewhere within these hallways that he had all but grown up in, that he knew inside and out, that he could navigate blindly.

His nails got caught on a ridge in the stone, and he felt the prick resonate through every fiber of him. It felt like he'd pricked his mind instead, and he stilled immediately. Fingers running over the stone, it was hard to tell at first, but there was definitely something there. He made a mental note and proceeded to light every single lamp before returning to the mostly forgotten corridor in the South wing - because he was a responsible person but also because he didn't want anyone looking for him.

On his way there, he'd further convinced himself that if teenage Minseok could get into this place without even having a mentor, so could he.

He was perfectly certain that the library for witches was hidden within the regular library because it _ made sense_. It simply fit into the world of witches as he knew it. It was an oddly ordinary world, with an aura that vacillated between playfulness and lofty arrogance; magic itself wasn't showy, so it embedded itself perfectly into ordinary settings, with an ease that was almost infuriating to someone who wasn't able to understand it.

Well, apparently Luhan wasn't one of them, and being convinced of this was probably the first step to reaching his goal.

He placed his hand on the stone again, trying to find the exact spot where the sensation piqued, and when he did, he paused. Took a deep breath. Tried to imagine what Minseok would do in his situation... and simply pushed.

For a moment, nothing happened, but before he had time to be embarrassed, his palm started to prickle and the stone gave way, taking others with him, opening like a door swung inwards. Behind it, he saw nothing but a few, dim lights in the darkness.

Swallowing hard, he stepped inside before he could overthink any of this. It wouldn't make sense for this place to be dangerous. It was just a library, after all, and if he wanted to know more about magic, what better place to start in?

Carefully, he closed the door made of bricks, which complied without a hitch or scraping sound of any kind. Luhan nodded to himself. Toeing the line of being so ordinary it was disappointing. That was magic as he knew it. It was still exhilarating to know that _ he _had done this. All on his own, he had found this place and opened the door, using whatever was thrumming beneath his skin as a key.

It turned out that the room he was standing in was simply a winding little entrance area. Two steps and a turn to the right revealed a room that was hardly bigger than one of their shared bedrooms upstairs and the numerous bookshelves and lack of windows or light sources made it feel even smaller. The shelves themselves looked unusual as well with how they were protruding from the walls like extensions of the wall instead of separate beings, crawling up to the ceiling, and in a few random places round light sources emitted a soft, yellow glow that reminded him of fireflies.

In the middle of the small room was a single table with six chairs loosely arranged around it. A single person was occupying the place, choosing to sit on the edge of the table, eyes skimming the pages of an old-looking book with obvious boredom until they flitted up to meet Luhan's, making way for obvious contempt.

Despite the natural urge to cower, Luhan plastered a strained smile on his face and nodded towards Jongdae. He wasn't surprised to see his gesture go by ignored.

A small, mean voice in his head helpfully noted that seeing Jongdae read was unexpected.

But Luhan wasn't there to pick a fight with him - in fact, he assumed that the library was a neutral ground and the only thing keeping Jongdae from casually spitting in his face right now.

With an internal shrug, he turned away from him, browsing the shelves. Compared to the rest of the library, the number of books was laughable, of course, but every single one of them were meant to be read by witches only, and therefore fascinating to Luhan.

Minseok owned books, too, but Luhan had never touched any of them and looking over his shoulder usually revealed nothing but complex-looking runes that meant nothing to him.

Surely, there had to be some books made for beginners though.

If he had to make up his mind on whether or not to become a witch, it felt only right to take a look at all this by himself. After all, being a witch seemed to be all about discovering and achieving things on your own. So he tugged a few interesting-looking books off the nearest shelf and took a seat at the table, posture straight and proper as he looked down at the first book.

The thick, emerald-green leather binding had caught his attention immediately. With the complex-looking rune etched onto the cover, it was likely one of the more complex books, but he'd intended to take a look at it, anyway.

Slowly, he turned it over in his hands, feeling Jongdae's gaze on him. The other wasn't even pretending to read anymore, instead watching him from the corner of his vision.

Luhan shot him a fleeting, unsure glance before he turned the book back to the front, carefully grasping the cover to-

"Don't open it."

Luhan flinched, but stopped immediately, slowly lowering the book back to the table.

He'd half-expected Jongdae to say something, but the voice had come from the shadows.

"If you're unlucky, it might melt your face off," Kyungsoo sighed as he stepped into the light, placing a stack of books on the table.

With a horrified look, Luhan let go of the book, shooting Jongdae a filthy glare which didn't seem to faze the other at all, who went back to reading now that Luhan wasn't going to potentially die anymore.

"_Thanks_," Luhan said, voice dripping with ostentation as he shot Jongdae a fleeting glare. Kyungsoo only dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

"I didn't know you were here," he added, subtly pushing the book away from himself. "Were you reading in the dark?"

To his surprise, Kyungsoo simply nodded.

"Some things are best read in the dark. And this is a good kind of darkness."

He could immediately see how this was Minseok's best friend - and how Kyungsoo would be eccentric, even by witch standards.

Luhan hummed as if this made perfect sense to him because if Kyungsoo was anything like Minseok, pestering for specific technicalities would be useless.

"And is there anything I can read that's _ not _gonna kill me?" he asked, half-expecting to receive a shrug for an answer.

Kyungsoo surprised him yet again, however, when he got to his feet and plucked a few books off a shelf with an ease that betrayed just how well he knew this place.

"Intending to become a witch now?" he asked as grabbed a few more books, piling them all up only to wordlessly return every single book Luhan had gotten for himself.

"I don't know yet," he admitted. He could feel Jongdae's scalding gaze on him and it was starting to annoy him.

"Is there anything on my face?" he asked unhappily - paying him attention was an obvious mistake, but Luhan was already busy taking in this new situation, and Jongdae made it hard to focus.

The other's eyes narrowed slightly and he lowered his book, probably to look down on him more effectively.

"Nothing that would explain why you'd have any right to be here," he said, slow and deceivingly neutral.

"Anyone who finds their way here has a right to be here," Kyungsoo commented calmly, sinking back into his seat.

"How did you get here?" Jongdae asked, no, demanded, and despite knowing better, Luhan bristled.

"Opened the door. Walked in," he stated blankly.

This seemed to shut Jongdae up, albeit temporarily, though he still looked very much agitated about Luhan's mere presence and his nerve to talk back the way he did. He could see the gears ticking inside his head, but instead of paying him any heed, he turned towards the stack of books Kyungsoo had chosen for him.

One of them was written in a language he didn't speak, but it wasn't an unfamiliar one. In fact, none of the books were written in ancient tongues and symbols one would associate with witches. He took every single one, reading the cover and considering where to start. One was about herbs and their uses, which seemed like a safe place to start, but the one about runes and symbols looked compelling, too, as did the one about spells. It seemed like Kyungsoo had purposefully chosen books covering all kinds of areas, and at the bottom of the stack, a worn-out looking, thin book made him pause.

_ Demons_, was all the cover said.

Vaguely registering that Kyungsoo was watching him, he opened it, reading the introduction which was written in ink that was entirely too vibrant to fit the weathered pages. It named demons as a vague term referring to any kind of magical being that could not be sorted into known categories. The parasite kind was apparently the most common one, describing beings that fed off anything intangible and therefore delving into why witches should study them.

It all sounded very plausible to Luhan, so he couldn't help but wonder why no one but Kyungsoo seemed to study these creatures.

He flipped through the chapters until he found the second to last one - about killing them. There were only two pages on it, and the information was vague, at best. Most of it he had already observed on his own - like how physical attacks didn't harm them and it took magic to reign them in.

By the end of it, he was left confused.

"It says that there are no known methods to kill demons," he wondered out loud, ignoring Jongdae's eyeroll and focusing on Kyungsoo's mildly interested expression instead.

"It's an old book," Kyungsoo only commented evenly, but there was a melodious undertone to it, something subtle that was enough to remind Luhan that he didn't know the other beyond him being a friend of Minseok.

"It also says that they cannot be physically harmed," Luhan trailed off, putting the book down. "So no matter the kind of weapon I use, as long as it's not enchanted, it's useless, right?"

"That's correct," Kyungsoo admitted readily. There was no way to tell, but to Luhan, he seemed almost excited over Luhan showing an interest in this. It was nothing but an intense kind of attention that lacked all sexual connotations this time.

"What, you wanna follow Minseok's footsteps?" Jongdae piped up, voice dripping with condescension. "You think you're even nearly as talented as him? Or do you wanna _ protect _him?"

The way he said it could have just as well been an open insult, and while Luhan did feel inferior and embarrassed, he refused to show it.

"I didn't say that, did I?" he snapped. "What's your problem? What do you want from me?"

"Nothing," Jongdae shrugged, and Luhan felt the annoyance flare up like an upcoming headache.

"Good thing you're not petty or this would be really ridiculous."

The book in Jongdae's hands was snapped closed, and then he was leaning down towards Luhan, eyes blazing with barely repressed ire that reverberated through his voice as well.

"You're pretty brave for a powerless little piece of shit-"

"Jongdae."

"_Yes_, _ Kyungsoo _?" he asked pointedly, making it obvious what he thought of the other's intervention.

It only occured to Luhan right then that as the city's patron, Jongdae probably rarely received any pushback, not even by fellow witches.

If he was some sort of untouchable, powerful wildcard that must not be challenged... well, Kyungsoo had apparently not received the memo on that yet.

"I'm trying to read here, shut up."

He could see the way Jongdae's tongue prodded the inside of his cheek as he reached out and closed the other's book.

"Better?" he asked helpfully, and Kyungsoo actually slapped his hand away, having had enough.

"Can you be a petty asshole elsewhere?" he asked, voice still relatively calm and clearly unafraid of the aggressive witch across him. "It's been _ years_. Do you really think getting rid of him would bring Minseok back to you?"

For a second, Jongdae sat there with his lips parted, fuming, but at a loss for words.

"Unlike you, the world isn't standing still. People keep living, moving on with their lives," Kyungsoo added, sounding like he'd been dying to say this for a while now. "When will _ you _?"

"Where do you want me to move on to?" Jongdae only hissed with a joyless smile, every syllable sharp enough to cut, and by now, Luhan was seriously starting to worry they'd snap and try to strangle each other. "I'm right fucking here, the best I'll ever be."

"And with the way you're acting, I'm starting to believe that," Kyungsoo replied without missing a beat.

"What's that supposed to-"

"I'm sorry!" Luhan cut them off, raising his voice just enough to be heard. Kyungsoo looked mildly surprised, as if he'd forgotten about his presence entirely, while Jongdae whipped around, ready to direct his anger at him instead. Luhan was faster this time.

"I don't know what happened but I'm sorry you and Minseok didn't work out," he said firmly. "And I'm sorry my presence reminds you of that. But acting all brusque and untouchable isn’t gonna save you from future disappointments either - except for the disappointment of never having taken another shot, that is. For someone who's so high and mighty, you sure seem to like crawling on the ground," Luhan ended, taking a deep breath. He had no idea where this had come from - the words had simply burst out, voicing out the thoughts he'd had about Jongdae for a while now. He actually regretted it, fully expecting things to escalate now.

What he didn't expect, however, was for Jongdae to look at him in dumbfounded silence.

Two seconds passed, and instead of the blind rage returning, the aggression seeped out of him, making room for... resignation.

"And what do _ you _ know?" he asked, still sounding derogatory, but also tired. "You're just some random human. Anyone would be able to handle you. Try finding someone who could handle _ me _and come out alive."

At this, Kyungsoo snorted, fixating Jongdae with dark eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself."

Jongdae scowled at him, but it lacked heat this time. Without a word, he grabbed his book and left. Just like that, he'd gone from brash and aggressive to silently retreating, unpredictable and moody as a cloudy sky.

"Don't mind him," Kyungsoo said as soon as the door had closed. "He's been licking his wounds for way too long, anyway. Your words were probably too spot on for him to handle."

"He and Minseok must have run deep, huh?" Luhan asked with a sigh. He'd said nothing but the truth. He did not feel sorry about being with Minseok, but hearing how close they used to be still made him feel funny.

"Not really," Kyungsoo dismissed him, already flipping through his book to find the page where he'd left off at. "They broke up before things got serious and Jongdae made a huge fuss. By now, he's convinced himself that he's just inherently toxic and not meant to be close to people."

"Wow. You've been watching him closely, haven't you?" Luhan asked, watching the way the other's fingers paused at the corner of a page, before continuing on like nothing happened.

"Don't be ridiculous," Kyungsoo muttered, and Luhan bit back on a smile. He really was similar to Minseok in many ways.

"Did you already like him back then? It must be an absolute pain to like someone like him."

"I'll be the next to leave if you don't stop," Kyungsoo threatened, but Luhan only grinned wider.

"But if you leave, how are you going to research these new demons to help Minseok fight them?"

"So many bold assumptions in under a minute."

"Please, what else would you be researching that has you desperate enough to check the library which you apparently already know by heart?"

"I already told you the darkness here is good for reading," Kyungsoo cut him off with a sharp side glance. "And now shut up or you gotta figure out how to fight off a demon all on your own."

Luhan refrained from teasing him any further, instead sliding into the chair next to him to pay close attention as Kyungsoo explained the very nature of demons to him.  
The small smile, however, stayed for much longer.

Minseok really was lucky to have a friend like him.


	12. Golden Strings

"Yixing? Can we talk?"

Immediately, Yixing turned around from where he was standing at the store front, looking out into the gloomy city.

"Sure."

He looked at Luhan with an expectant expression that only added to the anxiety in his stomach.

"In the back?" he added, hating how small he sounded. The concern grew on the other's face, and Yixing shot another, fleeting glance out of the window, before he nodded.

"Of course."

They moved to the backroom, sitting down on the sofa and small armchair, respectively. The counter was only a few steps away, really, but without the backdrop of the store window, everything felt more private already. Not that there were many people outside - the sky had been a dark, smudgy grey for days now, and the rain hardly ever stopped, soaking through everything but the increasing number of spells littering walls and lampposts.

'It's Jongdae's way of being extra attentive,' Minseok had sighed earlier, when he'd slipped under the covers shortly before dawn. Recently, he'd hardly seen Minseok. It was a pity, considering that they'd just decided to take their relationship to another level, but Luhan wasn't petty enough to bemoan that. Not when Minseok kept patrolling the streets until late into the night. Not when he had his nose buried in complex spells, tracing them out and carving them into necklaces. Not when the number of protective charms and accessories on him grew as much as the shadows under his eyes.

Luhan was worried, and maybe it was this kind of worry, this lingering feeling of dread and helplessness, that had pushed him to this decision.

He took a deep breath, both hands on his knees as he looked into the face of the most meaningful person in his life.

"I'll have to quit my job here. I'm sorry."

He saw the way Yixing inhaled, composed, serious... and not at all surprised.

"Are the witches forcing you to?" he asked evenly.

Luhan's eyes widened, he couldn't help it. He hadn't meant to mention witches in any way, but Yixing hadn't even given him the time to attempt and spill the nonsense explanation he’d come up with earlier.

"What? No, it has nothing to do with witches-" he began, but Yixing only shook his head, clearly unhappy.

"When did you start lying to my face so casually?" he asked, and instead of anger, there was lingering disappointment - easily worse than any kind of rage the other could have shown him.

With his head dropped in shame, Luhan swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to put you in danger."

He hard the other sigh.

"Luhan, I'm not blind. Did you really think I wouldn't notice what's going on? That the person you're living with is a witch? The way you stopped going to the library so often, the way you hesitate whenever I'm asking about your day, the spells sticking to our storefront way before they started to spread throughout town? Did you really think I wouldn't notice any of this?"

Crying would be really counterproductive right now, so Luhan bit his lips and drew his shoulders up just a little, hands digging into his thigh to stay tense.

For a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, it was silent, an Luhan couldn't bring himself to meet the other's gaze.

Finally, Yixing spoke up first, voice quiet and devoid of accusation.

"You're going to become one of them, aren't you? Is that what's going on?"

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" Yixing asked evenly, and Luhan deflated, feeling like the worst person in the world.

"For lying to you," he admitted quietly, but Yixing remained unfazed.

"That was hurtful indeed, but that's not what I want to hear right now."

When Luhan could only respond with a quizzical look, Yixing leaned forwards just a little, voice growing more urgent.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me that you felt like you're missing something? That _ this_, all of this, isn't enough for you? Did you really think I was going to be mad?"

Luhan blinked.

"What? _ No_," he breathed out, shaking his head in disbelief. "What are you talking about? You know I feel nothing but gratitude towards you, no matter how many years have passed - yes, things are routine and safe, but never have I _ ever _felt like something was missing. I was happy here, Yixing. Always-"

"Then why, Luhan?" Yixing prodded further, the worry still etched deeply into his features.

"I didn't- it was an accident, at first," he burst out. "And now apparently, I’ve got the talent to become one of them. They told me I have the potential."

"So what?" Yixing asked, crossing his arms. "So have I."

Every single thought of Luhan came to a screeching halt.

"_What_?"

Unfazed, Yixing shrugged.

"I've always had it. I simply chose not to act on it."

Suddenly, he remembered the way Minseok had talked about Yixing, and it all made _ sense_.

There were so many questions on the forefront of Luhan's mind, but the other didn't give him the chance to voice out even one.

"That world is dark and full of madness, Luhan. It may look dazzling, but the flip side is grotesque-"

"I know-” Luhan began, but Yixing was shaking his head already.

“You think you do, but when it turns around to try and consume you, nobody will be able to help you. Not even me. Certainly not the rotten people who dirtied their hands and hearts already.”

“It’s not a dirty thing,” Luhan argued, because that one thing he was fairly certain about. “And I’ll be careful.”

“Do you realize how naive that sounds?” Yixing asked, and he didn’t sound derogatory, which was the reason why Luhan felt nothing but the urge to make him understand.

“They’re not all rotten, terrible people,” he began, realizing that yes, he did sound naive, but that didn’t make him believe it any less. “And there’s someone watching over me. He’ll make sure it doesn’t consume me. I trust him. And one day, I’ll be able to watch over him, too.”

With how Yixing was looking at him, all gentle and sad, Luhan knew that there was no way for them to leave this conversation with a smile on their face.

After a long pause, Yixing could only shake his head, resignation thrumming in his voice.

“I can’t stop you. If that’s what you truly want, then I wish nothing but the best for you. Just know that you’ll always have a home here.”

The lump in his throat was back, too hard to talk around, so Luhan just nodded.

“Thanks,” he whispered, getting to his feet. He should leave now, before he started sobbing or doubting himself.

For a moment, he stood there, shoulders drawn up as he took in deep breaths.

Then he looked at Yixing, who was still sitting, still looking at him with sorrow veiling his gaze.

“I’ll do good,” Luhan whispered, hands clenched by his sides. “I’ll protect people. And I’ll protect _ you_. Just like you did for me.”

When he tried to raise his voice just a little, it cracked, crumbling away under the weight of his emotions.

“And if everything fails and everyone leaves me to drown, even that person I’m putting all my faith in, I’ll think of you. I’ll think of what would make you proud and I’ll do just that. There’s no way I can lose to it. So don’t worry about me, okay?”

Yixing looked surprised. Fond, too, and when he got to his feet, he parted his lips to say something none of them heard as a low rumble went through their bodies, followed by a deafening sound similar to a whip cracking.

Both their heads turned towards the storefront. It was pouring, with lightning striking down again and again, flashes of white appearing in a fickle, irregular manner.

They both hurried to the storefront.

It was raining so hard that they could barely even see the other side of the street, and a thick layer of white noise was pressing against the windows from outside.

It felt like the entire building was vibrating, humming under the assault, and Luhan felt it, too, felt it thrum in his bones. Next to him, Yixing looked disturbed, not even believing for a second that any of this was a natural phenomenon.

They saw people run past, looking like they were in a panic, and Luhan knew it was happening.

The vision, the premonition - it was happening.

Minseok was going to be in danger and Luhan had to find him, he just knew it. He had to be by his side because that’s what the vision had said. They were never wrong, Minseok had been very clear about that.

“I need to go. Now-”

“Luhan, don’t-”

This time, he didn’t listen to his mentor and friend, one hand already on the door handle as he looked back one last time.

“Stay inside,” he ordered right into Yixing’s alarmed, shocked face. “The rune will protect you but you have to stay inside and keep the door closed - I’m leaving.”

With this, he ripped the door open and threw himself into the storm, vaguely hearing Yixing shouting after him to take care. The words were immediately drowned in a wave of noise - rainfall, thunder, and the faint sound of people screaming filled the air.

Luhan was soaked to the bone within seconds, and he cursed heartily, the sound swallowed by the rain. If Jongdae was trying to flood the entire city, he was doing a pretty good job.

He ran down the streets, looking for anything surreal, looking for Minseok. He was supposed to fight an enormous demon, so Luhan should easily find them if he walked opposite the fleeing crowds. If they were even capable of seeing the demon.

Surely, Minseok would lure it into a spell-ridden alley, but there were too many of those to even consider checking them all out. All of them seemed to have been closed off, faintly shimmering walls separating them from the outside world. Luhan came to a halt as his surroundings slowly succumbed to chaos, with people yelling and running past.

How was he going to find Minseok?

Frantically, Luhan took off the ring he had given him, holding it close to his chest, praying that somehow it would lead him. It had only ever led him to Minseok's home, but that had worked because Luhan was focusing on it, right? He tried his hardest to think of Minseok as he'd last seen him. He pictured his slightly curly hair and ashen skin color, the way his eyes shone, tired but determined, focused and attentive. He thought of his sophisticated clothing, the shimmery accessories, the two rings dangling around the necklace he wore at all times, the way his fingertips felt on Luhan’s skin, the way his lips had brushed over the back of his neck last night, his faint, distinct scent-

And the ring did lead him.

Or didn't it? Maybe Luhan led himself, but he'd never know for sure.

All he knew was that he was running through a maze of alleyways, rows and rows of spells flying past, smudges of green, violet, and black. He kept running, unsure of where he was going, but certain he was running to Minseok. He simply knew it. Without being deterred in the slightest, he broke through the vaguely shimmering wall separating a particular alley from others - because it was meant to happen.

The rain lessened and the air shifted into something sour, feeling like bile covering his senses, even though that made no sense at all. His head was spinning, but no matter how uncomfortable the sensations, he barely registered them, not with how dark the sky had turned.

Not with the demon hovering in the air despite its massive weight.

Before him, Minseok turned around with a curse on his lips.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed, backing away from the monster and towards Luhan, who stood there, frozen and completely shell-shocked.

It was nothing like the singular demon he had seen before - this thing looked like a mutated cross between a bug and something entirely unnatural, with antlers and oddly-crooked extremities glistening without any light shining on them. It was enough to cover the sky, threatening to fall and suffocate them - and it _ reeked _ of strange, foreign magic.

Minseok's hand was waving before his face, and then Luhan found himself shoved against a wall.

"Stay back, you hear me? Stay back," Minseok commanded, eyes already back on the demon in the sky. Luhan didn't reply, every fibre of his being focused on not throwing up. Deep clicking noises seemed to rumble through his stomach without taking the natural way sound should take.

Minseok lifted his hand, moving it to the right in a flowing, but controlled curve, too fast for Luhan to follow, and then he was taking steps towards the demon. He wasn't running, wasn't even dodging the fat droplets of black hitting him. They all rolled off as if they'd never even touched him.

Luhan had seen Minseok use magic before. Most of it had been mundane, subtle in its execution and posing no visible strain whatsoever. He'd seen him fight a demon before, too, only using an enchanted dagger and a single explosive charm that wasn't even his.

This was completely different though - gone was the subtlety, the restraint. Spells were bleeding onto the ground with each step as he drew symbols in the air, singular, hard forms that caused symbols to appear on the walls, long and distorted like silhouettes thrown by paper lanterns. Luhan could only watch, his back pressed into the wall, as the demon's limbs extended, unfolding and attempting to pierce right through Minseok’s body. They met a barrier of emerald green that flared up upon collision, causing the limbs to twitch back like they'd been burnt.   
  
The demon grew angrier at that, trying again and again as Minseok kept switching approaches within the blink of an eye - one moment, he was slashing at the limbs with a dagger, the next, he was making a brutal hand gesture that created a barrier to push back everything around him back and give him more room, and another precise gesture had beams of fire fill the air, latching onto everything they could reach. Even with the spectacular displays of magic,Minseok was fighting a loosing battle. To the demon, Minseok was little more than a pest, and while his spells charred and burnt anything getting close to him, those were only mere fractions of the demon's actual body.

He took a sudden leap to the side, slapping his palm on one of the seals tacked to the wall while throwing out his other hand to activate the one on the opposing wall as well.

Runes lit up bright and colorful in the dark, travelling up both sides of the alley until they were all activated, hitting the demon with a row of explosions, bursts of fire and colorful light. A deafening screech filled the air as the demon convulsed under the attack.

Minseok took the chance to step away, walking backwards as he drew a rune into the air, all sharp movements. Around them, every symbol from the stray one on the ground to the ones he'd thrown at the wall began to gleam.

He shot a fleeting look at Luhan, inching closer to him.

"Come here, behind me," he ordered, palms still held at eye level, fingers stretched out. Luhan scrambled to obey, all but hiding behind him. This close, he could hear the other's laboured breathing, could see the smudges of dirt on his hands, the scrapes on the side of his face. Around them, the magic was vibrating, strung tight with the tension rising even further, pulling stronger, boring inside Luhan's head and prickling in his stomach.

He could also see the way Minseok geared himself up as the demon came down, sinking like a slow, heavy force, intent on crushing them. Where Luhan tried his best to make himself smaller, looking up in terror, Minseok seemed to stand taller, hands still held up, _ waiting_.

"Come on," he muttered, strained and impatient. It was close now, slowly engulfing the alley, sticking to the walls and threatening to consume them. Luhan would have loved to mention that this would be a fantastic moment to call for help, but the tension was buzzing in his head, whirring and ringing, pulling every fiber of his being taut.

The mass of black, shape-shifting, clicking limbs was no more than three feet away now, emanating a wave of cold.

­Slowly, Minseok's hands moved from open to half-closed, forming what looked like a claw, turning slowly.

Just when Luhan thought he'd snap, when he was about to scream from the pain and the demon was close enough to bulge against the emerald barrier, Minseok moved his hands wide apart, like he was ripping something open with bare hands. Strings of light became visible, the color matching the runes around them, held tight by Minseok. Now that he had pulled them apart, they were slicing through the demon like a gleaming wire would cut ice, and the sound ringing through Luhan's body was feral.

Minseok kept pulling, little rhombi flickered through the air and Luhan knew what was going to happen next. He knew it, felt it in his bones, but was too slow to act on it.   
The strings snapped under the pressure, the demon howled and there was magic everywhere, bursting free, throwing both of them back. Luhan tried to soften their fall, but it happened too fast to react and rough cobblestones were scraping up his cheek as he hit the ground, Minseok landing half on top of him. For a moment, he felt woozy, weightless and lost, suffocating in the polluted air, feeling wet shreds of the demon plummet to the ground around them.

With a small groan, Luhan sat up. Minseok did not do the same.

With panic flaring up, he turned the other around, only to see his eyes closed, form motionless in his grip.

"Hey," Luhan began, his own voice dull to his ears. Carefully, he shook Minseok's shoulder, patted his cheek, but the other didn't move. His own heart beating painfully in his throat, Luhan crouched down to press his ear over his chest, trying to hear or feel the other's heartbeat.

He screamed at his mind to shut up, closing his eyes.

Two seconds passed, and then two more, just to be sure, but yes, he was breathing.

Luhan exhaled in relief, eyes fluttering open... and falling upon the moving, winding remains of the demons.

Which was still alive, and reforming with ugly squelching noises.

Frozen in shock, Luhan sat there, one hand on Minseok's chest, looking up as the demon rose.

"Minseok?" he asked, his voice climbing up in panic.

But Minseok remained unconscious.


	13. The Execution

What now? What was he supposed to do?

The demon kept convulsing, re-arranging, and Luhan was utterly helpless. He wasn't a witch, had never consciously worked magic before, and there was no way he could fend off this monster.

The demon made a rumbling sound, and Luhan knew it was wounded and angry.

Panicked, his head flew around to look at all the runes still lining the walls. Only parts had been set off earlier by Minseok, leaving plenty of symbols behind, none of which he could read. Technically, these were condensed and completed spells though, and Luhan needed nothing but a spark to activate them, right?

The demon crawled towards them, alternating between slow and fast movements, and the adrenaline had Luhan jump to his feet, slapping his hand on a familiar symbol. One he had seen countless times before, because the exact same version was taped to their store front.

It activated without a hitch and just in time for the demon to hit an invisible barrier, moving so fast that Luhan's heart only skipped a beat well after it collided. Out of sheer instinct, he threw himself down to cover Minseok's body. The barrier seemed to hold up, a few other, identical runes starting to light up as the demon threw itself against it with a muted sound.

This time, too, Luhan felt the strain before it was visible. The net of magic around them was solid, but it wouldn't be able to stand this assault for very long.

Help, he had to get help-

Struck by an idea, Luhan frantically slipped his fingers beneath the other's collar, grabbing for the necklace. He fisted the ring Minseok had used to enter the Walpurgis, hoping it would react to someone who wasn't Minseok. Hoping his magic was strong enough to activate it at all.

_ Please, anyone_, he begged internally, flinching when the demon rammed against the barrier.

There was a flash of warmth, too fleeting to be sure it ever happened, and when the net creaked in protest, he let go of the ring to cradle Minseok closer.

Did it work? Would anyone even come? Minseok had never seemed too confident, but Luhan was sure _ someone _would come to their aid - if they weren't all caught up in their own fights, since the city seemed to drown in chaos-

Another hit against the barrier, and even the last protective runes in the alley were lighting up like fireflies.

_ They couldn't stay here_, Luhan thought, looking around in a frenzy, looking for anything that could help him defend them - but there was simply no way to harm demons physically, Kyungsoo had said that-

It struck Luhan right then, a flash of realization, burning through the panic.

_ Kyungsoo_.

He looked down at Minseok, biting his lip, and making a decision.

As quickly and cautiously as possible, he turned Minseok until he lay on the ground, right next to the wall.

"Wait here," he whispered, despite the other being fast asleep still. "Don't get hurt, okay?"

Then he slowly got to his feet, looking at the demon and trying his best to swallow his fear.

He took a deep breath, and stepped out of the barrier.

For a second, he came to a halt, waiting for the demon to register what happened. When it did, Luhan turned and _ ran_.

He ran as fast as he could, spurred on by fear and the crackling sound of the demon following him, easily giving up on Minseok. It seemed tattered and worn-out, moving just fast enough for Luhan to stay ahead, but he didn't have much time to check. He only knew that he was still alive, and that he had to trace back the way he'd come from. The rain was beating down on him, softening while he skidded through spell-protected alleys and flaring back up as soon as he left them. At some point, Luhan tumbled and fell, jumping back to his feet like it was nothing, frantically looking along the walls. Somewhere around here, he'd seen it-

He came to a halt, panting hard, steadying himself on the wall he'd seen earlier.

The one with the black symbols.

Spells were not supposed to be black, unless they were tainted by demons. These symbols, however, were not the usual, familiar runes tinted black. From up close, they looked foreign and Luhan thought back to what Minseok had said - there was only one witch using black ink.

He slapped both hands on one of the spells, feeling the magic sticking to the brush strokes, but nothing happened. He tried it again, breathing picking up as the demon rolled into the alley, movements choppy and disturbing.

With a frustrated whimper, Luhan pressed down harder, willing whatever pathetic spark of magic there was inside of him to activate the rune - but in response to his pushing, it only pushed back like invisible thorns boring through his palms.

Overcome with a cold wave of dread, Luhan backed away from the wall, but the demon was already too close, and it was picking up speed.

Luhan tried to turn, but only ended up tripping when something flashed up, filling the air with darkness. He landed on the ground, head turning to see the demon caught in what looked like spider webs spun of pure darkness. The spells were glowing, still strangely devoid of color. Of course. They had posed as a trap all along. Luhan crawled away from the winding mass, watching the strings envelop it, pressing down, _ consuming _the demon. There was a strain, Luhan could feel it, but the demon caved first, all but melting into the webs, which turned thicker, shimmering like it was made of tiny, crushed stars.

It didn't take long, just a few seconds, really, but then the alley was empty save for black webs that were soundlessly gliding to the ground.

Luhan just sat there, panting for air, his mind wiped blank.

It was gone.

No, not gone, but probably sealed. Like the demon Minseok had sealed into the stone. Yes.

He shook his head, trying to snap out of it. Now that the immediate threat was gone, his body allowed the shock to settle in, making him tremble all over. He got to his feet, trying to ignore all of this, to hold onto the adrenaline a little longer. He had to make sure Minseok was safe.

Feeling numb, he dragged himself back the way he came, suddenly acutely aware of the pain in his ankle. He'd probably sprained it. Not like it mattered - he just had to drag Minseok home, find a witch to help him, and _ then _he could go see a doctor-

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he slipped into the alley he'd come from, seeing Minseok covered in black.

"Shit," he hissed, stumbling over, knees painfully hitting the ground as he swatted at the black mass that had settled on Minseok's face, arms and chest. They were feeding off him, that much was obvious; small, cut off shreds of limbs crawling up to Minseok to eat away at him as long as he was helpless. Disgusted and with the panic rising up again, Luhan swatted at them, wincing when they stuck to his own hand instead, shaking them off like insects.

The matter seemed to react to his touch, hissing and burning, and Luhan kept going, blindly swiping at every patch of black. They felt weird under his fingers, not at all as solid as they looked. No, they reminded him of cotton candy, slightly coarse, but loose, giving way and simply vanishing upon pressure. Without thinking, Luhan kept pressing on the black spots on the ground, squeezing whatever he could get his hands on, feeling it sizzle away. He could make them disappear. He could keep Minseok safe.

When everything in their reach had disappeared, Luhan slumped together. Just for a second. Just for a second, he'd rest-

Behind him, ominous sounds announced more demons.

Luhan turned sideways to see them swarm the alley. They were small, barely more than a shred of the thing they'd faced, and yet Luhan wanted to cry.

He couldn't keep going any longer, everything ached and he was all out of ideas.

Despite everything, he slid before Minseok, weakly shielding him.

"This would be a fantastic moment to wake up," he whispered, but there was no response.

He lifted both his hands in defense, realizing that they were stained black almost up to his elbow, when a bolt of white light flashed up, temporarily blinding him. The smell of something burnt was lingering in the air, and when Luhan's vision returned, there was nothing but ash left of them.

Harsh breathing caught his attention, and he whipped around to see Jongdae standing in the alleyway, chest heaving and sweat clinging to his face.

Immediately, the tension left Luhan's body.

Minseok's ring had sent a call for help, and Jongdae had responded.

He swallowed noticeably before looking down at Luhan, gaze quickly wandering to Minseok. There was absolutely no telling what he as thinking, expression tense and unreadable, but Luhan only slid away to make room for him.

"He got hurt," he began, voice hoarse and words tumbling out without any coherency. "He used a spell with strings and they snapped - I think the magic hit him, I don't know-"

Wordlessly, Jongdae pushed him aside, attention focused on Minseok as he knelt down, checking his breathing.

"Please help him, please-" Luhan babbled, only for Jongdae to glare as he stared ahead.

"Shut up."

Luhan bit his lips, hands clawing into his thighs as he forced himself to stay still.

It gave him time to look down at his hands. They really were stained, splatters of black looking like spilled ink, making the markings on his throat look like nothing but smudges of dirt.

Minseok would probably scold him for getting himself dirty like that, Luhan thought deliriously.

Good thing he wasn't going back to the store - working with gloves would be nearly impossible.

"He'll be fine," Jongdae said, ripping Luhan out of his borderline hysterical thoughts. It sounded like he was trying to convince both of them.

Jongdae heaved Minseok up with him, steadying him, shooting an expectant look towards Luhan, parting his lips-

"You! Witch! Don't move!"

Luhan flinched. Suddenly, they weren't all that alone anymore, with a handful of soldiers pointing spears at him, quickly coming closer.

They didn't seem to see Jongdae, who was standing there, looking alarmed as he held on to Minseok. It was probably the pendant around his neck keeping them invisible. He seemed tempted to reach out, to do something, but Luhan only shook his head.

"Take care of Minseok," he insisted as he was tugged to his feet, hands getting bound behind his back.

"Who is he talking to?" someone asked, clearly afraid, but another soldier only tugged the restraints tighter with a grunt.

"Nobody. He's insane."

"Don't- I didn't do anything wrong," Luhan pressed out, wincing when a shove made him put weight on his injured ankle. "There was a monster-"

"The only monster here is you," someone hissed, grabbing his upper arm to hold him up by force. "Your dirty tricks won't work on us."

As Luhan was dragged away, he couldn't help looking back towards Jongdae and Minseok one last time, but none of the soldiers even thought to check the area further.

Jongdae stared after him, looking conflicted, and despite everything, Luhan felt reassured.

Jongdae wasn't a bad person. He'd help Minseok. Surely.

With soldiers framing his front, left and right, Luhan couldn't do anything but wait until he saw an opening.

What he had not anticipated was them leading him straight to the square, up the wooden stairs of the execution platform. 

* * *

The sky was still cloudy, but a few sunrays managed to sneak through, making every wet surface blink at the right angle. A constant buzz filled the square as more and more people gathered.

Yes, it was a cloudy afternoon, kinda nice and peaceful, really, and Luhan was sitting there, awaiting his own execution.

His knees and feet hurt from sitting still, but he barely felt it over the pulsing pain in his hands. It seemed like they didn't intend to execute him straight away, letting him sit there like a chained dog, waiting for the public to gather. And gather they did.

The square was pretty crowded already, and Luhan wanted to think of a way out of this situation but his entire being was focused on not bursting out of his own skin.

Ever since he'd sat down, coming down from the high, the weird feeling in his hands had been growing steadily. At first, it had felt prickly, like sand running over his skin, like the blood flow was simply restricted due to the shackles chaining him to the ground. By now, it was downright pulsing, feeling like something was moving beneath his skin. It was disgusting and downright terrifying. Was that a fraction of the demon inside him? One that was so big it was still... alive? Luhan felt entirely helpless, but panicking made the feeling grow worse, made it crawl up his forearms, and so he simply sat there, fully focused on not breaking down, but there was no denying it - he was awaiting his death, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was going to die for everyone to see, for a crime he did not commit. For a lie. And Yixing had been right - no one was going to help him now. His eyes had wandered over the crowd around him, revealing Baekhyun as one of them. He didn't show any sign of recognizing him, looking mildly interested at best. Minseok would have helped him, but he was still out cold.

Nobody was going to help him.

And the next day, Yixing would see it in the papers, would mourn the loss and blame the witches, and maybe even himself.

And Minseok? Would he mourn him, too? Luhan didn't want to be arrogant, but he liked to think so.

When an officer stepped up next to him, raising his voice to shush the crowd and rattle down the formalities, Luhans vision started to blur.

He felt lost and scared, put on display before countless people, with a demon pulsing under his skin. Thinking clearly was becoming impossible, everything had simply been too much-

Dark, familiar eyes met his.

Right before the platform, in the second row, stood Kyungsoo.

Luhan couldn't help staring at him, silently begging him to help. The people around him kept turning their heads, looking uncomfortable at the possibility of being stared at by a witch, but Luhan was desperate to cling onto the tiniest flicker of hope.

Kyungsoo only stared at him, blank, but not derogatory. Patient, even. Like he was waiting for Luhan to do something. But what? What was he supposed to do? Minseok had managed to escape a similar situation, yes, but Minseok was a top tier witch, and Luhan was... nothing.

Kyungsoo's eyes flickered down to his hands, and Luhan followed his gaze, thoughts racing as the officers kept talking about the supposedly tragic events of the day. His hands, the demon, what about it? Was Kyungsoo simply waiting to catch the demon upon his death?

No, Luhan thought. He was missing something here.

Minseok was an amazing witch, yes, but he also seemed to have nothing but mundane answers to most of his questions. Someone had called him crafty before, too. Maybe there _ was _an obvious way out of this.

Luhan racked his brain for the memory of that day. Minseok had done nothing, and then, when he was about to die, magic had filled the entire air, stunning everyone, and Minseok had made his escape. The paper had stated that the swords had bounced off the witches' skin, but how?

If only he hadn't turned away at the last second-

Very faintly, Kyungsoo nodded towards his hands again, a little more insisting, and all of a sudden, Luhan understood.

He put together all that he'd seen, experienced, and heard, and it all fell into place.

But could he do it? He didn’t need to be a witch to know that this could go horribly wrong, that he might end up dead either way.

Someone stepped up to his left, and the tip of a sword blinked up in the corner of his vision, effectively chasing out every doubt. It was this or death.

Luhan sucked in a deep breath, and another one, allowing the panic to take over. It bubbled up immediately, bringing forth more tears, fear, and knots in his stomach. It ran up his arms and chest, legs and head as the demon spread, taking over.

Everything moved in a blur after that, colors smudged, sounds and movements delayed and hollow, like he'd been dipped underwater. There were faces, dull impacts on his skin, the sky turning as he stumbled, brick walls and lamps, shoes and coats, someone holding his hand-

And then everything turned dark.

* * *

There was something on his hands. Something fleeting. A touch.

Slowly slipping into conscious, Luhan groaned quietly.

Exhaustion was weighing down every part of him, and his head felt strange. Like his _ mind _was sore.

Bit by bit, reality sunk in.

He was alive. Alive and lying down, with nobody yelling at him or putting a blade to his throat.

Right?

He blinked, entire expression scrunching up at the brightness of the room. Even with just a white ceiling, he knew immediately where he was - he was in the back of the store. The tea store.

Someone blocked his vision, and Luhan sighed in relief when he realized that it was Minseok.

Some of his scratches were still bleeding and he was covered in splatters of black, hair and clothes a mess, but none of it mattered because he was alive.

Minseok squeezed his upper arm, looking pretty relieved himself.

"There you go," he assured him quietly. "It's over now, you can relax."

With a small groan, Luhan turned his head, resisting the urge to sleepily nuzzle into the other's free hand.

"Are you alright?"

Minseok actually huffed at this, fleetingly running a hand through his hair.

"Compared to you? Probably. Are you feeling anything strange?"

Luhan hummed in negation.

"My hands hurt," he only muttered, and the light touch returned, palming one of his hands.

"That's normal. Nothing to worry about."

It was shockingly easy _ not _to worry about it, Luhan thought absently, cheek pressed into the cushion, inhaling the familiar scent of tea and Yixing. The blankets he was lying on were dusted in the same scent, and it was incredibly calming.

"Why are we here?" he asked hoarsely.

"Yixing let us in," Minseok explained, voice unusually gentle, accommodating to Luhan's state. "He saw you and Kyungsoo, and took you in."

Warmth spread through his chest, immediately relieving some of the pain. Despite him not approving of his choice, he'd let them in.

It only then occurred to Luhan that he couldn't remember being in the company of Kyungsoo. That he couldn't remember anything happening after the demon had taken over.

"I guess you found out how I escaped execution after all, didn't you?" Minseok asked, a little _ too _light to be entirely natural.

Nodding seemed like a terrible idea, so he only made a sound in the back of his throat.

"Kyungsoo told me that demons cannot be physically hurt," he rasped out, clearing his throat. "So I assumed that neither can I, if it gains control... did I hurt anyone? I can't remember."

"Smart. Just as expected of a student of mine," Minseok hummed, still playing with his fingers. "No one died, I think. It went pretty well, considering you acted on impulse. Kyungsoo took care of you, too, so nothing went down the drain. He helped you regain control and push the demon back down."

"Did you just call me your student?" Luhan asked, suddenly much more awake than before.

It was obvious that Minseok had hoped the statement would go by unnoticed. Now he covered his embarrassment with a small shrug.

"Yixing told me that you decided to follow this path."

That explained a lot, but not everything, so Luhan forced the exhaustion away in order to study the other's expression carefully.

"But... Don't I need to, I don't know, pass a test or something?"

Minseok actually snorted, but the way his fingers tightened around Luhan's betrayed that he didn't feel half as casual about this as he appeared to.

"I think you've proven your worth as a witch by now. Plenty. Luhan," he began, the words coming out slow and measured, "what you did today was... really, really amazing. Without your quick thinking, we might all be in big trouble now. And I'd probably be dead."

Luhan swallowed, feeling uncomfortable at the mere thought.

"I was unconscious, obviously, but I pieced it together based on what Kyungsoo and Jongdae told me. This kind of intuition and quick thinking is not a given, not even for higher witches. Not even Jongdae would deny being your mentor now."

"Oh god, please not Jongdae," Luhan groaned before he knew it, the words tumbling out to mask how flustered the compliments made him. "I wouldn't survive _ him_."

Minseok chuckled breathily.

"Yeah, maybe not him. Though you don't have to take me as a mentor either. There's also Kyungsoo. Don't let me influence your choice."

"You're saying a mentor-student relationship might be uncomfortable?" Luhan asked, and had the nerve to shrug. "It will be fine, I'm sure. There's many things I want to learn, but we were doing a good job so far, regarding the entire mentoring thing, don't you think?"

"I never even tried to teach you anything," Minseok protested.

"And yet you did," Luhan dismissed him goodnaturedly.

The doorbell rang, and sheer instinct made Luhan get to his feet immediately, much to Minseok's dismay.

"You'll be safe now," he heard Jongdae say. Yixing's reply was cut short when Luhan awkwardly tugged him into a hug from the side, sending them to bump against the counter, glass bottles clinking in an accusatory manner.

"And you're back on your feet as well, I see," Jongdae commented blankly. Undeterred, Luhan turned towards him with a bright smile.

"You saved us. Thank you."

Jongdae bristled immediately like a cat being doused with water.

"First of all, I saved _ Minseok_," he snapped, crossing his arms. "And keeping people away from this store also benefits Minseok. Don't think I'd so much as lift a finger for you."

Yixing looked surprised at the harsh reaction, but Luhan couldn't help smiling.

"Sure," he said, and it came out just genuine enough for Jongdae to look suspicious and out of words.

"What did Yifan say?" Minseok asked from the doorway, and Jongdae gladly took the opportunity to not engage with Luhan any further.

"He told me it's not a problem. The store is now listed as a safe place he's vowing for. No one's gonna search it any time soon."

"Hah, their faith in Yifan never ceases to amuse me," Minseok commented dryly. Yixing didn't seem all that pleased at the open display of corruption, but he stayed silent, hand rubbing absently over Luhan's back.

"Where did Kyungsoo go?" Luhan asked, not failing to see the way Jongdae perked up at the other's name.

"Home," he said nonchalantly. "You're lucky he even left his apartment long enough to take care of you."

"Right? I _ am _pretty lucky," Luhan agreed merrily, simply because Jongdae didn't seem used to people agreeing with him.

"I can't fucking stand you," Jongdae muttered, but there was no heat to it. Then he made a show of looking around the store, blatantly trying to change the topic.

"So, are you gonna sell me some tea or not?" he asked Yixing, who didn't even flinch.

"Of course," he said easily, prying Luhan off him to lean on the counter with a patient expression. "What kind of tea did you have in mind?"

Luhan bit back on a snicker because obviously, Jongdae hadn't expected the other to react so casually.

"Just... I don't care," he began, shrugging as he looked around the rows of bottles lining the walls, opening his mouth just as Yixing spoke up.

"How about something for a sore throat?"

Jongdae looked mildly stumped.

"Uhm. Sure. Getting many witch customers, do you?"

Yixing waved him off equanimously, already reaching for the ingredients.

"What is it about witches and sore throats?" Luhan wondered out loud. "None of you ever uttered a single spell, so why?"

Minseok looked faintly amused over his outburst, but left it to Yixing to answer.

"It's not about sore throats," he explained, eyes trained on the scale. "They just like Tilia petals, which are a staple in these teas."

Jongdae remained surprised, shooting Minseok a questioning look that remained unanswered.

"How do you know?" Luhan asked instead. For a moment, he thought Yixing was going to ignore the question, but then he caved, sounding a little resigned.

"It's good for your inner balance. I figured it out because it has the same effect on me."

"You're a _ witch_?" Jongdae all but demanded, and Yixing shook his head.

"I'm not."

"You have the potential and you're brewing tea for a living?"

"I rarely brew it, just put it together," Yixing retorted almost sweetly, and when Minseok gently pulled Luhan into the backroom, he wasn't met with any resistance.

"I don't want to witness that cat fight," Minseok sighed, but Luhan only huffed.

"You know what? I have a feeling they'll get along great."

Minseok shot him a doubtful look, but Luhan was pretty certain they would.

"You really gathered everyone around today, didn't you?" Minseok asked after a pause, sitting on the armrest of their couch.

"I didn't do anything," Luhan insisted. "They came for you. And Kyungsoo also came to help me, which impressed Yixing. I'm starting to think the witch community isn't nearly as mean and divided as you think it is."

"It's that kind of thinking that gets you killed," Minseok chided him, while in the same breath, slinging an arm around Luhan when he leaned into his side.

"It's that kind of thinking that kept me alive today," Luhan protested.

"Fighting your mentor before your lessons even started," Minseok sighed. "_You'll _ be the death of _ me_, not the other way around."

"I try," Luhan hummed, slipping into the space between his legs, both arms resting on his shoulders.

He bumped their foreheads together, closing his eyes and feeling nothing but peace.

Of course with Minseok, this kind of peace was usually short-lived, and before he knew it, he was being carefully manhandled against the wall.

"_Now _we're out of sight," Minseok muttered, meeting his eyes for a split second only, before leaning in for a kiss. Luhan felt the deja-vu as he slapped his own hand on his lips to prevent it.

"What about the stains?" he asked, gesturing at the black sprinkles and his own black fingers. "I thought they're contagious-"

"They're not," Minseok cut him off, leaning in to drag his lips up the side of Luhan's face in order to avoid eye contact.

"I made that up."

"What?" Luhan asked, ready to be playfully offended, when a nip to his ear made him flinch.

"A few years ago, Yifan had a vision," Minseok explained, fingers dancing beneath the fabric, caressing his sides. "He told me that Jongdae and I would destroy each other if we stayed together. I did the logical thing, which was ending things.As you can probably guess by now, Jongdae didn't take well to that," Minseok added, a small attempt at being light-hearted. Luhan hummed, running his palm over the warm skin of Minseok's back, comforting him as he listened carefully.

"Back then, Yifan told me that I wouldn't stay alone forever," Minseok continued, pressing their cheeks together in a surprisingly gentle gesture. "He said that he saw me kissing someone. I just... didn't want to make it official, I guess. I was being a coward."

Hearing this made Luhan want to replay their past encounters in his head, but there would be time for that later.

For now, he cupped the other's face, waiting until he met his eyes. There was so much to read in them, so many thoughts, fears, hopes, all laid out for him to see.

"Thank you," Minseok whispered, quiet and serious, the words so heavy that even just listening to them was a bit overwhelming. "Thank you for saving me."

There was something anxious swimming beneath the surface, something Luhan was picking up so naturally that he wondered whether it had something to do with magic.

"Thank _ you _for kissing me," Luhan stated firmly, and for a moment, he expected Minseok to duck his head, to back away or shove his hands down his pants - anything to resolve the tension.

What he did, however, was close his eyes and softly brush his lips against Luhan’s.

It was easily as dizzying as their first kiss, slow, warm, and trusting.

Time didn't stand still but for a moment, nothing else mattered.

"Anytime," Minseok whispered against his lips.

"Are you seriously getting it on behind our backs?"

Luhan had never seen Minseok flinch so violently, and it immediately sparked his sense of protection, making him pick a playfight with Jongdae as Minseok kept himself in the background.

He didn't mind stepping forth and taking charge for once - in fact, it was pretty reassuring that there was at least one area where Luhan could already support him, witch or not.

Though he suspected that things would only become more interesting in the future.

He was looking forward to it.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Junmyeon looked around the hall, mentally counting. Yifan was absent due to a political meeting but other than that, the white tables were complete. Even Kyungsoo was sitting there next to Minseok, looking somewhat sullen. Junmyeon wasn't deterred in the slightest - he knew that Jongdae had only talked him into attending so he wouldn't have to suffer alone, but anything that filled the tables was fine by him. Running after people was headache-inducing and Junmyeon had better things to do.

"I'm grateful so many of you could find the time today."

The statement was met with minimal reactions, but Junmyeon wasn't deterred.

"As you all know, we are still battling an unseen war against the South, and while its been quiet recently, we have a witch on the loose now."

He could see people starting to talk at this, the sound confined to the respective tables.

"There is no need to be alarmed. The person isn't very powerful, but seeing as she's infected, she might become a threat to us if we don’t act soon."

Even just thinking of the rare, demon-induced sickness people had voluntarily brought to their capital made people anxious, and he could see why. Still, he wasn't all that worried.

"I know we don't usually go after fellow witches, and I would rather not subject this task to anyone but..."

He trailed off, looking at Minseok and Luhan, who had finally stopped tilting his chair in boredom.

"I think you two would be suited for it."

He didn't have to appeal to them, to step down and downright ask or demand them to. For all their mutual enjoyment of danger and overall recklessness, they were surprisingly reliable when it came down to it.

"Sure," Luhan quipped with an easy smile, slinging an arm around Minseok's shoulders, who didn't even flinch. "Leave it to us."

Junmyeon didn't have to add anything, didn't have to tell people to assist them, because there was no need to. People voluntarily assisted them if they asked for it, mostly because Luhan had a way of charming people. It was quite refreshing, really.

It was still true that witches didn’t work in teams.  
There were exceptions though. 

  



End file.
